FOR 






THE PEOPLE 




Class 

Book._ 



_.-. — 



Copyright N°. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



SERMONS FOR THE 
PEOPLE 



BY 
WILLIAM HENRY BOOK 

Author of "Columbus Tabernacle 
Sermons," Vols. I. and II.; 
"The Indiana Pulpit," 
Etc., Etc 



CINCINNATI 

THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 



Copyright, 1918, by 
The Standard Publishing Company 



DEC i3 1518 

\ 



This volume is dedicated to my father, 
Henry L. Book, who gave his life upon the 
battlefield, and to my mother, who sacri- 
ficed and struggled for me when 1 was too 
little to understand. We send it out on its 
mission praying that it may be the means 
of helping some soul to see the light and to 
walk therein. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction 7 

I 

"In the Beginning God" — Gen. 1:1 9 

II 
The Bible God's Word 29 

III 

Jesus Christ the Son of God 46 

IV 
Spiritual, Worship 61 

V 
Christ 's Prayers 73 

VI 
Learning to Pray 85 

VII 
Prayer a Necessity 99 

VIII 
Prayers Answered Ill 

5 



CONTENTS 



IX 
That Tongue of Mine 126 

X 
The Home 137 

XI 
Now and Hereafter 147 

XII 
What We Are — What We Shall 

Be 156 

XIII 
Where Are Our Dead ? 167 

XIV 
Heavenly Recognition 192 



INTRODUCTION 

THERE are books of sermons of diverse 
styles and characteristics. Some are 
logical, cold, and purely didactic. Others 
are inspirational and filled with warmth 
and color. Not a few are dry and tire- 
some. 

This book is of the inspirational and 
more distinctly popular type. It sparkles 
with humor, and is permeated through 
and through with the language of the 
Scriptures. It is a book which will lighten 
the burdens of the reader and which will 
give him renewed encouragement to pur- 
sue his daily tasks. 

The author needs no introduction at 
our hands. As a gifted speaker, a min- 
ister of rare sympathy and power, and a 
man who has climbed to the heights in 
his profession, he has won an enviable 
reputation throughout the American con- 
tinent and beyond. His work speaks for 
itself, and we are sure that it will prove 
appealing to a vast host of readers. 

7 



INTRODUCTION 



The sermons in this book are all upon 
great themes. They touch the founda- 
tion principles and issues of life. No one 
is too learned to enjoy them or to profit 
by them, and no one is so unlettered as to 
be unable to grasp their practical import 
and meaning. The wealth of illustration 
by which the lessons contained in the 
book are enforced, is in itself a rare ele- 
ment of charm. Best of all, these ser- 
mons are thoroughly loyal to the great 
basic truths of our common faith. 

It is a genuine pleasure to stand in 
the gateway and to commend such a vol- 
ume to the thoughtful attention of its 
readers. Frederick D, Kershner, 



I 

"IN THE BEGINNING GOD"-Gen. /:/ 

THERE is just one mystery, and that 
is God. Accept the statement of the 
text, and all things can be explained; re- 
ject it, and nothing can be understood. 

The agnostic comes to us with the cry : 
"I can not understand, and therefore I do 
not believe." An agnostic is an igno- 
ramus, and when he tells me he is that, I 
take him at his word. If we refuse to 
believe everything we can not understand, 
then there is nothing we believe, for there 
is nothing we can understand. 

The atheistic astronomer says, "I do 
not believe in your God because I can not 
understand him," and yet he will offer 
me his book of astronomy, which is being 
taught in our colleges and universities, 
and he says everything contained in the 
book is true. Let us see if he is honest in 
his objection and if he is consistent in his 
criticism. We stand out beneath the out- 
9 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

stretched, boundless blue sky and gaze up 
into the distance. Star after star beams 
upon us, some glimmering but faintly, and 
with a far-away look, while others through 
infinite realms of space shed forth their 
glorious streams of radiance. Planets, 
stars, fixed stars, worlds upon top of 
worlds, how we wonder what you are! 
This atheistic astronomer says: "I have 
measured the distance from the earth to 
the moon and the sun ; I can tell you their 
velocity ; I know the material out of which 
they are formed ; I have measured the cir- 
cumference and the diameter of each; I 
have weighed them in my balances and 
can tell you their weight; the moon is a 
dead planet where no fire is; there is no 
water and no life there. I can, through 
my telescope, see the burnt-out volcanoes 
that exist there.' ' He grows eloquent 
when he talks to me about the rings and 
the satellites. He says, "The sun is the 
center of the solar system, and beyond this 
sun there are other suns," and thus, with 
his imagination, he mounts his cloud 
chariots drawn by fiery steeds and leaps 
from star to star and from world to 

10 



"IN THE BEGINNING GOD" 

world, counting until his imagination is 
worn out and falls back on itself, and he 
exclaims: "Height without a top, depth 
without a bottom, length and breadth 
without a beginning or an ending; great 
indeed is the immensity of space !" Let 
us ask this man of wisdom a few ques- 
tions and find out if he understands. 
"Where is the center of the universe? 
How old are these stars f Tell me the cir- 
cumference and the diameter of the uni- 
verse. Are these stars inhabited? On the 
right, on the left, before and behind, he 
will find that things are broken off, and 
he can not answer because he does not 
understand. Then, Mr. Astronomer, why 
do you not burn up your books of astron- 
omy and stop teaching the doctrine of the 
stars, since you can not understand, and 
therefore can not believe in your own 
books of astronomy? If you can believe 
in the doctrine of the stars when you do 
not understand, can you not believe in 
the God who made the stars, even though 
you can not comprehend Him? 

I hold in my hand a book. See it fall. 
What caused it to go down rather than 
11 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

up? You say: "The law of gravity." 
What is that? Have you ever seen grav- 
ity? Can you explain it? You tell me 
that it is an incorporeal, intangible, invis- 
ible something that causes the lesser body 
of matter to go toward the greater. Now, 
if you can believe in gravity, why not be- 
lieve in the God who made gravity? You 
refuse to believe in God because you can 
not see him, and yet you believe in gravity 
which you have never seen. 

The atheistic geologist comes to me 
with his reasons for his atheism. He re- 
fuses to believe in God because he can not 
understand him, and yet he believes in his 
book of geology. He says that he can go 
down and down until he comes to fire ; but 
if there be no God, ask him to tell you 
who put that fire there. He can go back 
and back, but he can never touch the be- 
ginning. Ask him to tell you how it is 
that almighty God sent forth a ray of 
heat from the sun millions of years ago 
with force enough to penetrate the earth 
and there lie latent until the strong-armed 
miner dug it from its prison cell and gave 
it to us in the form of oil to burn in our 
12 



"IN THE BEGINNING GOD" 

lamps or coal to burn in our grates? 
What is fire? Do you know? Are you 
ready to say there is no such thing, and 
refuse to be benefited by its comfort be- 
cause you can not understand it? What 
is light? I never heard of but one per- 
son who could tell, and he was a lazy, 
sleepy, stupid boy in the school, and when 
the teacher asked, "What is light ?" he, 
when half awake and half asleep, replied : 
"I did know, Professor, but I forgot. " 
The professor said: "Think how much 
this world has lost because of the bad 
memory of this boy!" Do you know? 
Tell us if you can. Now, are you ready 
to say there is no such thing as light be- 
cause you can not understand it? Are 
you willing to blow it out and live the rest 
of your days in the dark? 

Electricity — what is it? I remember 
going to the city with my first son. I had 
been to town before, but he was ac- 
quainted only with the mountain scenes. 
When we pulled into the station he saw a 
car going by without any horses, and he 
became greatly excited and cried out: 
"Father, what is that*" I told him it 

13 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

was a trolley-car. Then he wanted to 
know what made it go, and I told him 
electricity. Then he cried out: "What is 
electricity! " I did not tell him. He is 
now a man with a family and I have not 
told him. If you think you can, you may. 
I went into a railroad station one day 
to see a man who had moved to town. I 
had heard that he was a member of the 
church, and I felt it would be a good thing 
to hold a meeting in that town with a view 
of establishing a congregation. He was 
a negative Christian. Do you know what 
kind that is? It is a dead one. I found 
him at his office and engaged in sending 
a message. I leaned over on the window- 
facing, thinking I'd wait for him to get 
through with his work. I felt something 
like needles in my arm, and the sensation 
was going through me. I felt like you do 
when you hit the crazy-bone in the arm. 
I became excited, and wondered if I were 
paralyzed. When I got away from the 
window the feeling left me. I went back 
and touched it again, and with the same 
results. I jumped away just as the 
operator looked at me. He asked: "Did 

14 



"IN THE BEGINNING GOD" 

you touch this window !" I told him I 
did. He then informed me that he had 
charged the window with electricity with 
the view of catching a negro that loafed 
in the station, and he caught me. Now, I 
did not argue with him and say, " There 
is no such thing as electricity, ' ' and that 
I would not believe in a thing I could 
not understand. What is electricity? Can 
you tell? You refuse to believe in God 
because you can not see him; have you 
ever seen electricity? You have seen 
lightning, but you have not seen elec- 
tricity. You have not the eyes with which to 
see electricity. A negro was lecturing be- 
fore a large crowd of his race and he 
said: "Ladies and gentlemen, I am here 
to-night to tell you what electricity is. 
Electricity is — electricity. Electricity — 
electricity is, ladies and gentlemen, elec- 
tricity is electricity, and it is none of your 
business what electricity is." Edison can 
not give a better definition than did this 
negro. 

An evangelist had conducted a meeting 
in a small town, and a number of the 
young men had become converted. A 

2 15 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

professional infidel lived in the hotel, and 
he took delight in giving the young men 
that gathered in the hotel at nights theo- 
logical nuts to crack. One night the old 
parson had come to town and was in his 
room in that hotel. The infidel had a 
group of men about him and he was 
knocking their props from beneath them, 
when one of the boys went to the stairway 
and called for the parson. "Come down, 
parson, and help us out. This man is 
doing us all up. ' ' Just as the old parson 
got to the head of the steps he heard the 
infidel say : " If you have a God, show him 
to me; let me feel him; let me hear him; 
let me taste him; let me smell him. ,, He 
was told they could not comply with his 
requests. "Then," he said, "if you can 
not approach your God through any of 
the avenues of approach — the senses — you 
have no God." By this time the minister 
had gotten into the room, and he put his 
hand on the shoulder of the infidel and 
said: "I perceive that you are an idiot." 
The man became angry and said : " I have 
never been accused of that before." "I 
will prove it," said the minister. "What 

16 



"IN THE BEGINNING GOD" 

is an idiot ?" He was told that it is a 
man without a mind. He then said: "Let 
me see your mind; let me taste it; let me 
feel it; let me smell it; let me hear it." 
He was told that it would be impossible 
to grant his requests. Then," said the 
parson, "you only have five avenues of 
approach, and if I can not get hold of 
your mind through any of these avenues, 
you have no mind, and if you have no 
mind, you are an idiot." The minister 
says: "I was walking the street one day 
and saw this man approaching me. I 
wondered if he meant to thrash me. He 
came to me and took my hand in his and 
said: * Parson, I want to thank you for 
what you said to me that night in the 
hotel. I am now a believer. I never 
knew before what a fool I was. I believe 
now in things I can not understand/ " 

A boy is flying a kite. It is out of 
sight. A stranger sees the boy and asks: 
\ ' What are you doing, my lad V 9 " Flying 
a kite," the boy replies. The man looks 
into the heavens, but he can not see the 
kite He says: "I do not believe you are 
flying a kite, my boy, I can not see it." 

17 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

The boy says: "Then take hold of this 
string and you can feel it pull. ,, We 
may not see God, but we can feel him 
pull. ,, 

If yon do not believe in anything you 
can not understand, then you do not be- 
lieve in your parents; you do not believe 
in your children; you do not believe in 
yourself. Who can understand man? 
The ancients one time had a motto: 
"Man, know thyself.' ' None of us have 
learned this art. Like Sir Isaac Newton, 
we are children drifting on the surf -beaten 
shores, gathering here and there a pebble, 
while all of the regions about us are 
depths of unexplored knowledge. 

We are told that a man by the name of 
Harvey discovered the circulation of the 
blood. If there be no God, can you tell us 
who started that blood through the veins? 
Books have been written on the formation 
of the hand, but Bell and all who have 
written on the subject can not tell how I 
move my finger if there be no God. Take 
the mechanism of the eye. Can you un- 
derstand this self -focusing machine? See 
it as it makes many pictures in a second! 

18 



*'IN THE BEGINNING GOD" 

Is beauty in the eye or is it in the indi- 
vidual ? A man said : ' * I am thankful that 
all men can not see as I do. ' ' When asked 
why, he said: "They would want my wife 
Nancy. " A man replied: "If every one 
saw as I do, there would not be a man in 
the world who would have her." Who 
understands the brain? We boast of liv- 
ing in the twentieth century, and of our 
wonderful inventions, but I want to tell 
you that I agree with Solomon in the 
statement that there is nothing new under 
the sun. Take telegraphy. When God 
made Adam and placed him in the garden 
he established a complete system of teleg- 
raphy, and every one born into the world 
since has been a duplicate of the same. 
Let me illustrate. You are sitting in the 
church on some hot August night and the 
minister is preaching a lengthy sermon, 
and you find a mosquito sailing over the 
heads of the people looking for his cousin, 
when all of a sudden he takes up his abode 
on your bald pate. A message is at once 
sent to the central station — the brain, and 
a call is made for connection, and then a 
dispatch is sent to your hand with the 

19 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

news, "A mosquito is on the head," and 
it is gone ! This is telegraphy. Messages 
are coming and going all the time, and 
they never get confused when the central 
office is all right. Do you understand 
this? The backbone is an immense tele- 
graph pole with forty pairs of nerves — 
wires — and with ten million branches run- 
ning in all directions. 

Take the body, which is covered all 
over with pores. We are told that one 
grain of sand will cover one hundred 
scales, and that each scale covers from 
three to five hundred pores, and that each 
pore has in it an innumerable multitude 
of living things swimming around in it, 
^and with as much freedom as a whale has 
in the sea. Can you understand this? Do 
you believe it? 

Some years ago I met a noted atheist 
who took great delight in giving young 
preachers theological nuts to crack. She 
said: "If you have a God, then show him 
to me and I will believe.' ' When asked 
how this world came into existence, she 
said: "From chance or from evolution." 
When I asked her who made her, she said : 

20 



"IN THE BEGINNING GOD" 

"I came from a spore, an atom, a germ. 
I began with an atom and kept on evolv- 
ing until I became a tadpole, and then a 
monkey, and then a creature of intelli- 
gence. ,, I had heard that there is a con- 
necting link somewhere, and I concluded 
that if the theory of evolution be true I 
had found this link, for she was the ugli- 
est woman I had ever seen. I further told 
her that she might be related to the 
monkey, but I did not claim to be of any 
kin to the animal. 

Let us notice her objections. Could 
not believe in God because she could not 
see him. Ask her if she had ever seen an 
atom and she would say "No." If she 
could believe in the atom without seeing 
it, why not believe in God who made the 
atom! If a man came from an atom, 
who put the life into the atom? When the 
germ of an egg, the germ of a snake and 
the germ of a man are all placed under 
the microscope, why do they all look 
alike, and what is it that keeps the germ 
of the tree from evolving into a snake, 
and the germ of the snake from evolving 
into the man, and the germ of the man 
21 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

from evolving into a tree? Why does not 
man evolve into an archangel? 

If the world came from chance, how 
do you account for the order and per- 
fection and the wisdom revealed in the 
creation! Suppose I would quote a beau- 
tiful poem and you would ask me who was 
the author, and I would say, " There is 
no author. I just took a handful of 
type and threw them against the wall, 
and it happened !" You can spell my 
name with four letters, but you could 
not do it by throwing four letters 
against the wall, if you were to try for 
a century. 

I met the husband of this woman. He 
was an intelligent man, but an atheist. 
When I asked him why he did not believe, 
he said: "I can not understand. I do not 
believe in a thing I can not see." He 
said man came as a result of evolution. 
There has never been an evolution where 
there has not been an involution. The 
hardest thing I ever tried to do was to 
evolve out of my pocket a ten-dollar bill 
to pay for a new hat for my wife, when it 
had not been involved into my pocket. 

22 



"IN THE BEGINNING GOD" 

Did you ever try it? If the world is here 
as a result of evolution, who involved the 
idea? In my early manhood I was a 
schoolteacher, and after getting my license 
I purchased a Waterbury watch. It could 
out-tick any small piece of machinery I 
had ever seen, but I had to keep winding 
it all the time to keep it going. It was 
like some church-members. One day I 
decided to look into that watch and see 
the jewels. I took out the three little 
screws, and there jumped out in that 
schoolroom a spring nine feet long. I 
tried to place it inside of the watch, but 
I could not find room enough to hold the 
spring. I took it to town and sold it to 
a man who had watch sense. I could not 
fix it because God had never involved into 
my head any watch sense. He had in- 
volved some into the head of the other 
man and he could fix it. That watch could 
not repair itself; when it stopped it could 
not start itself. It had no sense. It was 
unorganized matter. 

Let us look up into the blue sky and 
behold the greatest piece of clockwork 
man has ever looked upon. It did not 

23 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

make itself. A creation implies a Crea- 
tor; a design, a Designer. 

"The spacious firmament on high, 
With all the blue ethereal sky, 
And spangled heavens, a shining frame, 
Tiheir great Original proclaim. 
The unwearied sun, from day to day, 
Doth his Creator's power display, 
And publishes to every land 
The work of an almighty hand. 

"Soon as the evening shades prevail, 
The moon takes up the wondrous tale, 
And nightly to the listening earth 
Repeats the story of her birth; 
"Wihilst all the stars that round her burn, 
And all the planets, in their turn, - 
Confirm the tidings as they roll, 
And spread the truth from pole to pole. 

"What though in solemn silence all 
Move round this dark terrestrial ball; 
What though no real voice nor sound 
Amid their radiant orbs be found; 
In reason's ear tihey all rejoice, 
And utter forth a glorious voice, 
Forever singing as they shine, 

'The hand that made us is divine.' " 

You may burn all the churches and 
kill all of the preachers, but so long as 
there is a blazing star shining^ in the 
heavens, so long will there be a witness to 
testify in burning eloquence, and with 
24 



"IN THE BEGINNING GOD" 

logic that can never be refuted, that God 
is. 

This intelligent atheist said he did not 
believe in God because he could not under- 
stand him. He believed in himself and in 
his fellow-man, and yet had to confess 
that he did not understand either. Man 
eats, but he does not understand diges- 
tion. He can not tell how it is that the 
food produces hair, bone, flesh, nerve, etc. 
What is it that takes the part out of the 
beefsteak that makes hair and puts it on 
the head; that makes nail and puts it on 
the finger and never on the nose? He 
tells us that where the artery ceases to 
be an artery and the vein begins to be a 
vein (no one knows where this is) the 
selection is made. Two men eat the same 
food for five years, and one has a mus- 
tache and the other has not; why is it? 
When the man said he could not believe 
in God because he could not see him, I 
asked: "If I can prove to you that you 
have never seen your father, that you 
have never seen your mother, and that 
you have never seen yourself, will you 
confess that you never had a father, that 

25 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

you never had a mother, and that you do 
not exist V He said he would. Then I 
said: "I stab you with a knife, and your 
body falls upon the hard pavement and 
it is soon cold and lifeless; is that you? 
Is that lump of cold clay lying there the 
one that invented that machinery, that 
enjoys the sublime and the ridiculous, 
that thinks and acts? If that be you, 
why not let us embalm you as the Egyp- 
tians did, and keep you with us for- 
ever V He confessed that the body was 
not the man. Then I said: "You have 
never seen yourself; no man can see a 
live man. It takes spiritual eyes to see 
God and to see man. You have only seen 
the house in which man has lived. These 
eyes do not see; they are the windows, 
and I am back inside looking out through 
the windows. That was not your baby 
that you deposited in the grave; it was 
only the place in which the baby lived 
for a short time. ,, He said: "I do see 
myself manifesting myself through my- 
self.' ' "You see God manifesting him- 
self through himself, too, and if you can 
believe in your own existence upon such 

26 



"IN THE BEGINNING GOD" 

evidence, why not believe in God upon 
the same kind of testimony ?" I asked. 

What is life? What is death? With- 
out God all is mystery; with him all 
may some day be understood. He has 
century plants, and they will unfold in 
their own good time. 

Death! A father puts his son into a 
plain building, and tells him he must live 
there for a short time and then he may 
have a beautiful mansion. The house 
becomes dilapidated and a leak is re- 
vealed. The carpenter is called and the 
leak is repaired. Then another break is 
seen and he is called again. Soon the 
building is almost ready to fall down, but 
in sight of this building is another that 
is nearing completion, and the father, 
when it is finished, comes to the son and 
says: "You have remained in this house 
without complaining, and now I want 
you to come into this beautiful dwelling 
I have prepared for you." Man is put 
for a season into the body which is his 
house. Again and again the break is dis- 
covered and the physician is called to 
repair and make it comfortable, but after 

27 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

a time it is ready to fall to pieces because 
of disease, and the father says to his 
son: "Come now and live in this house 
I have prepared for you. This is to be 
your home. ,, And the soul comes out of 
this house of mortality and enters into 
a house that is to be eternal. This is 
death. 



28 



II 

THE BIBLE GOD'S WORD 

Text. — "But men spake from God, being moved by 
the Holy Spirit."— 2 Pet. 1: 21. 

"T AM, therefore God is, for no man 
* ever made himself. I speak, there- 
fore God spake, for no man has ever 
spoken who was not first "spoken to." 

God has given to man two books — 
the book of nature and the book of reve- 
lation. The book of nature reveals a 
God of wisdom and of power; the book 
of revelation reveals a God of love, and 
this is the highest and best revelation. 
It reveals God as our Father. 

The Book is here; if God did not 
write it, who did? Man could not have 
done it, and he would not if he could. It 
is a book that reveals man's defects and 
pronounces condemnation upon his head. 
All of the combined wisdom of all the 
combined ages could never have written 
this Book. We are certain that the devil 

29 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

did not write it, for it is opposed to his 
kingdom, and to follow its teachings will 
mean the destruction of the devil and his 
kingdom. It is antagonistic to all that 
is devilish. 

Let me give you only a few reasons 
for believing it came from God and that 
it is the product of inspiration. Men of 
God spake from God, being moved by 
the Holy Spirit, says the apostle. It can 
not be destroyed, and therefore we argue 
that its indestructibility is a proof of its 
inspiration. When Moses saw the burn- 
ing bush, the flames loomed and the fire 
burned, but the bush could not be con- 
sumed. God was in it. God is in this old 
Book and it can not be destroyed. It has 
come to us through a river of blood. 
Every page is stained with the blood of 
the martyrs. Some one says: "It has 
been upset more times than any other 
book, and yet it is a solid cube right side 
up every time." It is like the Irishman's 
fence which was five feet thick and three 
feet high, and some one said: "Pat, are 
you not afraid to keep fooling with that 
fence — afraid you will upset it?" Pat 

30 



THE BIBLE GOD'S WORD 

replied: " Faith, if I do, it will be two 
feet higher after I've completed the job!" 
It is this way with the Bible. Every time 
a destructive critic or an infidel makes an 
attack on it, it comes before the people 
with renewed power and strength. Those 
who opposed it and tried to destroy it 
in the past ages have been almost for- 
gotten, and were it not for the fact that 
they linked themselves to its history, 
would not be thought of to-day. Voltaire 
predicted that within one hundred years 
there would be no Bibles, but when the 
hundred years had rolled around, the 
Christian people were printing Bibles on 
the very printing-press which had been 
used by the French infidel. Thomas Paine 
did his best to kill it in his day and gen- 
eration, but to-day there are millions of 
men reading the Book, and never in the 
world's history have we had so many 
copies of the Bible, and in so many lan- 
guages, as we have to-day. No book at- 
tracts attention as does this one. Can 
you picture the scene in New York when 
the new version came from the press : ex- 
press-wagons loaded with Bibles and the 

3 31 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

Bible houses unable to supply the de- 
mand! Think of it: 118,000 words sent by 
telegraph to Chicago in order that the 
people in that locality might be able to 
read the message at the same time they 
were reading it in New York ! 

Its Style. — The style of the Book is 
another reason for believing in its inspira- 
tion. When you translate a piece of liter- 
ature into a foreign tongue it loses its 
personality and its individuality. 

"Shakespeare^ magic could not copied be; 
WitJhin that circle none durst walk but he." 

The moment you translate his writ- 
ings, and put them into another tongue, 
they lose their power. Not so with the 
Bible; you can put it into every dialect, 
and you can create a language and then 
put it into the one you have created, and 
it is still the powerful, uplifting, soul-sav- 
ing message. It is a universal Father 
speaking to his universal family. Its con- 
ciseness is characteristic. You write the 
history of the Johnstown flood and you 
will have a book of hundreds of pages, 
but when God wrote the history of the 

32 



THE BIBLE GOD'S WORD 

greatest flood the world had ever seen, 
he put it into a few sentences, and you 
can not add to it. It is a perfect descrip- 
tion. If you write the history of a man, 
you will use pages, but God can write the 
history of a nation and put it all into a 
few paragraphs, and you are impressed 
with it as being finished. 

Its Uniqueness. — Suppose the Presi- 
dent should issue a proclamation calling 
upon men from every country under the 
" Stars and Stripes' ' to bring to the city 
of Washington, on a certain day, pieces 
of marble taken from the quarries of their 
own land, and that these men, ignorant 
of each other's work, should come to the 
city on that day and place their pieces of 
marble, and when it was all done, with- 
out the use of hammer or chisel, there 
would go up a beautiful and magnificent 
temple, perfect in form and in design. 
What would be your conclusion — that each 
man wrought under the direction of some 
master mechanic or that it was mirac- 
ulous? Here we have sixty-six blocks of 
spiritual marble, and they have been 
quarried by forty men and at different 

33 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

times and in different places, and when 
they are put into proper form we have 
the beautiful and magnificent spiritual 
temple of inspired wisdom and truth in 
which God is pleased to dwell. How do 
you account for it upon any other basis 
than that all of them wrote as they were 
moved by the Holy Spirit? 

Its Influence. — Just as the desert is 
made to blossom because of the presence 
of the spring of water, so society is bless- 
ed by the word of God. Wm. E. Glad- 
stone said: " After fifty-eight years of 
public life — forty-seven in the English 
Cabinet — having been associated with 
sixty master minds of the world, all but 
five were Christians." 

Who would live in a community of in- 
fidels 1 The Bible in a community guaran- 
tees protection to property and to life. 
Two young men were traveling in what 
was then termed the "wild West." One 
night they stopped at a cabin and asked 
to be taken in for the night. One of the 
young men was an infidel and the other 
was a devout Christian. The infidel said 
to his companion: "I am afraid to stay 

34 



THE BIBLE GOD'S WORD 

here all night. This old man would kill 
you for a quarter. I have determined 
to take my revolver to bed with me, and 
to cut a hole in the bed-quilt and peep out 
with my hand on my pistol and be ready 
to shoot.' ' When the time came to retire, 
the old man got his big family Bible and 
said: " Young men, it is our custom to 
read God's word and pray before going 
to bed. I hope you will join us." He 
then read the chapter, and they got down 
on their knees and he prayed: "Father, 
bless these young men who are so far 
away from home. Keep them from dan- 
ger and from the power of the evil one. 
Bless their parents who are so anxious 
about them to-night. Comfort them with 
the thought that God will be unto them a 
Father and that he will care for and pro- 
tect them, we beg in Jesus' name." The 
infidel was the first to get into his bed. 
The Christian noticed that he did not 
Lave his revolver and that he had not 
cut the hole in the bed-quilt, and he asked 
him why he had not made provision for 
his safety. He replied: "That old man 
wouldn't hurt you." The presence of 

35 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

that Bible and the fact that he was a man 
of prayer made the man feel he was safe. 
Suppose he had placed on his table a deck 
of cards and a bottle of moonshine and 
said, "Now, gentlemen, we want to have 
a good time before we retire,' ' what 
would have been the effect on the man, 
do you think? 

Internal Proofs. — One Sunday morn- 
ing I was in the hotel in my city talking 
with a minister who was to preach near 
the city that day. He was one of the 
high-brows and made light of miracles 
and certain books in the Bible. A Jew 
was present and heard our discussion, 
and he said: "I am a Jew and I do not 
believe in miracles. I do not believe in 
the Virgin birth. I am from Missouri and 
you will have to show me." I said to 
him: "Did I understand you to say that 
you are a Jew and that you do not believe 
in miracles, and that you are from Mis- 
souri and that I must show you?" He 
said, "Yes." "Then I will proceed to 
show you. Come and stand up in front 
of that looking-glass and take a good 
square look at yourself. Now explain to 

36 



THE BIBLE GOD'S WORD 

me how the prophet, hundreds of years 
before you were born, knew that you 
would be a hissing and a byword and with- 
out a dwelling-place? How came you 
here? Look at yourself. You are a mir- 
acle of the twentieth century. ' ' He quick- 
ly replied : i i There are more Jews to-day 
than when Christ was crucified." I said: 
"Why is it? How did the prophet know 
when he said, hundreds of years before 
you were born, that you would be here as 
a people, but not as a nation, when the 
Lord returns? You are here — you can 
not be destroyed. God has pronounced 
a curse upon the nation that persecutes 
you, and the nations of the earth that 
have put their hands upon you have paid 
the penalty, but you have no country and 
you are a hissing and a byword among 
the nations of the earth. Men of God 
spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Spirit." 

Fulfilled prophecy is the miracle of the 
age. Had we time, we could give a ser- 
mon on fulfilled prophecy. Take the 333 
that relate to Christ, and all were fulfilled 
to the letter. 

37 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

This book is in the present tense. 
Like its author, it is I am. One day a 
Mormon elder came into my home and 
said: "I am an apostle of the Latter-day 
Saints. I can work miracles and speak in 
tongues, and if I take deadly poison it 
will not hurt me." I asked him if an 
apostle did not mean a witness. He said 
it did. Then I wanted to know how a 
witness could have a successor. He ad- 
mitted that there are twelve thrones and 
that the twelve apostles are to sit upon 
the thrones, and then I told him that all 
of the seats were occupied, and if he were 
an apostle he would have to stand, for 
there was no vacant seat. I said : ' ' I have 
been reading about you." He was anxious 
to know where. I told him in Paul's let- 
ter to Timothy, where he said that in the 
last days — and he professed to belong to 
the latter-day crowd — perilous times 
would come, and that men would creep 
into houses and take captive silly women, 
and that I noticed he had arrived on 
schedule time. He said he could perform 
miracles, and then I told him I had read 
again in the Book that out of the mouth 

38 



THE BIBLE GOD'S WORD 

of the beast came three frogs claiming to 
work miracles, which were of the devil, 
and I felt sure he was one of the frogs. 
The Bible is loaded, and when you want 
to kill false teaching all you need to do 
is to know your gun and how to pull the 
trigger. 

It Is Not a Scientific Booh. — The Bible 
is not a book of science ; it is a revelation 
of God and the way to heaven. It does 
not contradict science, however. One time 
I was engaged in a meeting in Hagers- 
town, and I was using a query-box, giving 
the people a chance to ask questions on 
the Bible, and an infidel would cram the 
box with hard questions, and then leave 
as soon as I had answered the questions, 
refusing to hear me preach. One night 
he put this question in the box: "If your 
God has all power and the devil is the 
cause of sin, and sin is the cause of mis- 
ery, why does not your God kill the devil 
and put a stop to this?" I told him God 
could not afford to do it ; it would leave too 
many orphans in Hagerstown. He became 
angry, and the next day called at the 
parsonage and challenged me for a de- 

39 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

bate. I refused, and told him I could not 
afford to give him any notoriety at my 
expense. He then said: "Your Bible con- 
tradicts science and I would not accept a 
Bible that does this." I insisted that he 
show me one contradiction, and he said: 
"Your Bible says that God in six days of 
twenty-four hours each made the heavens 
and the earth, and this would be an im- 
possibility. It would have taken millions of 
years for the earth to have cooled off." 
I gave him the Bible and challenged him 
to show me the statement, and he was a 
long time finding the first chapter of 
Genesis. When he read it I did not see 
the statement. He read again: "In the 
beginning God created the heavens and 
the earth." I stopped him and asked: 
"When was the beginning?" He could 
not tell. Then I said: "God created all 
of this in the beginning, and we do not 
know how long that was, but we know that 
the evening and the morning were the 
first day. Now, there was no day until 
the earth revolved on its axis, and it did 
not revolve until it had been created and 
cooled off, and the evening and the morn- 

40 



THE BIBLE GOD'S WORD 

ing made the first day. No contradic- 
tion." Then he said: "Your Bible says 
that Abraham was a man after God's 
heart; but Abraham was an old liar, and 
I have no respect for a Bible that makes 
such a man a man after God's own 
heart.' ' I asked him if he had ever told 
a lie. He insisted that he was a gentle- 
man. I told him I was glad to hear it, 
but I wanted to know if he had ever told 
a lie. He admitted that when in a tight 
place he might have prevaricated. I told 
him Abraham was in a tight place and 
prevaricated, and that God told the truth 
on him. That, fortunately for him, God 
had not seen fit to write his history, and 
when he did the world would learn a lot 
of which it was then ignorant. The Bible 
tells both sides — the good and the bad. 

It Is Its Own Interpreter. — A noted 
lawyer, who had been for many years an 
infidel, was told by his physician that he 
had organic trouble and could live only a 
short while. He went to his associate in 
law, a Presbyterian elder, and asked: 
"Have you a book that will prove the 
Bible V 9 His partner handed him the 
41 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

Bible and told him to read it. He said: 
"You do not understand. I want a book 
to prove the Bible.' ' "Then," said the 
lawyer, "go home and read your Bible.' ' 
He noticed the emphasis on the command, 
and went home and began to read it. One 
morning he came into the office, and his 
partner asked him how he was getting on 
with his Bible. He said : " I want to know 
where that man Cain got his wife." I 
have been in but few places where some 
man did not want to know this. The 
Bible was not written to tell where every 
man got his wife. You do not know where 
I got mine, and it is none of your busi- 
ness, and yet it is just as necessary to 
know where I got a wife as to know 
where Cain got one. It is a bad business 
to be looking after some other man 's wife. 
He was told to keep on reading his Bible. 
He came in one day, and again was asked 
how he was getting on. He said : " I am try- 
ing to find out if that flood was universal. ' ' 
He was told to just keep on reading his 
Bible. One day he came and was greatly 
excited. He said: "I am a lawyer and 
have been practicing law for many years, 

42 



THE BIBLE GOD'S WORD 

and I would like to know where that man 
Moses got that law. It would have taken 
a God to have given such a code. I am 
convinced and I am now a believer/ ' We 
read too much about the Bible and not 
enough of it. 

Not a Booh of Theology. — The Bible 
is not a book of theology. God made some 
stars and hung them up in the heavens, 
and then man made a telescope and began 
to study stars and then wrote out what 
he thought about stars and called that 
astronomy. God made the stars and man 
made the astronomy. God made the rocks 
and man began to dig and blast and ana- 
lyze the rocks and called that geology. God 
made the rocks and man made the geology. 
God made the daisy to laugh on the hill- 
side and man began to pick it to pieces, 
and then wrote what he thought about it 
and called it botany. God made the flow- 
ers and man made the botany. God made 
a Bible and man began to study it, and 
then wrote out his interpretations of it 
and called that theology. God made the 
Bible and man made the theology. The 
world will go to sleep on theology, but it 

43 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

will sit up and listen when yon give it 
the simple word of God. It is hungry for 
it. 

One time a minister was visiting an- 
other minister, and he was taken into his 
cellar where he had a lot of dried leaves, 
broken sticks and roots and a smoky 
lamp. He said: "Here is where I study 
botany." The visitor started to pick up 
one of the dead sticks, and the man said: 
1 ' Don 't touch it ; it will break. ' ' Then the 
visitor said: "Let me out into the fresh 
air where I can smell the fragrance of 
living flowers. I do not want to live 
among a lot of dead leaves and roots; 
they are musty and you dare not touch 
them for fear they will break/ ' This is 
the way it is with the sermons that are 
composed of men's opinions, and the old, 
musty, lifeless doctrines: the world will 
not stand for them. 

The Bible is God's universal library. 
Do you want to study astronomy? Then, 
behold the Bright and the Morning Star. 
Do you want to study geology? Then, 
read about the Eock of Ages. Do you 
want to study botany? Then, take some 

44 



THE BIBLE GOD'S WORD 

lessons in the Eose of Sharon or the 
Lily of the Valley. Do you want to study 
biology? Then, become acquainted with 
the one who is the Way and the Truth 
and the Life. 

The Bible will do to live by and to 
die by. A noted infidel was called to the 
bedside of his daughter who was dying. 
Her mother was an earnest Christian, and 
had taught her to believe in the promises 
contained in the blessed old Book. The 
father had told her it was all a myth. 
She took the hand of the father and said : 
" Father, I am dying. Mother says the 
Bible is true, and that Jesus is my Sav- 
iour, and that he has gone to prepare a 
home for me, and that he will come and 
take me to be with him. You say it is 
all a lie. I am dying, and I want to know 
— must I believe you or must I believe 
mother ?" The infidel, with the tears 
streaming down his cheeks, said: "My 
child, you believe your mother.' ' I am a 
poor, blind, helpless cripple, and the Bible 
is my only crutch. Will you be so cruel 
as to try to knock it from beneath me? 



45 



Ill 

JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD 

Text. — "What think ye of the Christ? whose Son 
is he?"— Matt. 22: 42. 

JOHN tells us that "in the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was 
with God, and the Word was God." He 
further tells us that "the Word became 
flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld 
his glory, glory as of the only begotten 
from the Father), full of grace and 
truth.' ' 

The Old Testament Scriptures tell of 
the coming of this "Just One," and when 
he came he endorsed the Scriptures. When 
his apostles preached, they had but one 
proposition to prove, and they proved it 
from the Scriptures. This one proposi- 
tion was: "Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
of the living God." When Jesus preach- 
ed and taught, his one theme was himself 
— the fulfillment of prophecy, the end of 
the law and the fulfillment of type and 

46 



JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD 

shadow. His sermons were filled with 
quotations from the old Book. Matthew 
quotes from twenty-two of the thirty-nine 
books; Mark from thirteen with fifteen 
passages; Luke, from thirteen with 
twenty-five quotations, and John, from 
six with eleven. From 189 chapters we 
have 140 quotations. Evidently Jesus and 
his apostles believed the Old Testament 
Scriptures to be the inspired word of 
God. 

Christ was himself a prophet, and his 
prophecies were fulfilled to the letter. He 
said: "Now I tell you before it come 
to pass, that ye may believe that I am 
he." 

Witnesses. — Let us hear the evidence 
as it comes from the witnesses. John the 
Baptist preached that one was to come 
after him and that the people were to be- 
lieve on him. God had told him he might 
know Jesus. He sent him to baptize with 
the promise that when the Holy Spirit 
came upon one of the number being 
baptized he should know he was the 
Christ. John beheld the Spirit as he 
came upon this one in the form of a dove, 

4 47 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

and he heard the Father confess him to 
be his Son. After this he said to certain 
ones: "Behold, the Lamb of God, that 
taketh away the sin of the world.' ' 

On certain occasions the Father testi- 
fied, and we must listen to his testimony. 
When Jesus was being baptized, the 
Father said: "This is my beloved Son, 
in whom I am well pleased." On the 
Mount of Transfiguration he said: "This 
is my beloved Son; hear ye him." 

On another occasion, when Jesus re- 
quested that he glorify his name, there 
came a voice from heaven saying: "I 
have, and will glorify it again." Jesus 
said: "There is another that beareth wit- 
ness of me, and I know that the witness 
which he witnesseth of me is true. I 
and my Father are one. For as the Father 
raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, 
even so the Son quickeneth whom he 
will." 

The works of Christ were stronger 
evidences of his divinity than the words 
of John the Baptist. Jesus insisted that 
his works should be proof that the Father 
had sent him into the world. In no age 

48 



JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD 

of the world's history has God sent one 
to represent him without giving to the 
one sent his credentials. The signs done 
by Jesns were to make it possible for 
people to believe. He did among the Jews 
works that no other man had ever done. 
He not only raised the dead, but declared 
that he had the power to lay his own life 
down and to take it up again. He demon- 
strated this in his resurrection from 
among the dead. 

Seven hundred years before he came, 
the prophet had said: "For unto us a 
child is born; unto us a Son is given; 
and the government shall be upon his 
shoulder: and his name shall be called 
Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, 
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." 

When Matthew writes of the birth of 
this child, he quotes from the old prophet 
and says: "Now all this is come to pass, 
that it might be fulfilled which was spok- 
en by the Lord through the prophet, say- 
ing, Behold, the virgin shall be with child, 
and shall bring forth a son. And they 
shall call his name Immanuel; which is, 
being interpreted, God with us." 

49 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

Jesus said unto them: "If God were 
your Father, ye would love me: for I 
proceeded forth and came from God; 
neither came I of myself, but he sent 
me." When he answered his critics he 
said: "My Father worketh hitherto, and 
I work." 

"Therefore the Jews sought the more 
to kill him, because he had not only brok- 
en the sabbath, but said also that God 
was his Father, making himself equal 
with God." 

When the angel told Mary about the 
birth of this child, he said: "The Holy 
Spirit shall come upon thee, and the pow- 
er of the Most High shall overshadow 
thee: wherefore also the holy thing which 
is begotten shall be called the Son of 
God." 

The Word was in the beginning with 
God. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of 
Judea when the Word became flesh and 
dwelt among men. Jesus became the 
Christ when he was anointed at his bap- 
tism. 

Paul tells us that Jesus one time ex- 
isted in the form of God, and that he 
50 



JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD 

emptied himself and took upon him the 
form of a servant, being made in the like- 
ness of men, and was found in the fashion 
of man; he humbled himself and became 
obedient unto the death of the cross (Phil. 
2:6-8). He makes it clear in his Epistle 
to the Colossians that Christ is the Son 
of God in a peculiar sense, and that he 
was at one time with the Father (Col. 
1:12-20). 

A Unique Character. — Man could 
never have created such a character. His 
greatness is conditioned upon his extent 
of influence and the purity and the gen- 
uineness of his character. He did more 
within three years to regenerate and lift 
the race than all of the priests, philos- 
ophers and teachers of all the ages. He 
was born in poverty, and was forced to 
confess that while the foxes had holes and 
the birds of the air had nests, he did not 
have where to lay his head. When 
the disciples went to their homes at the 
close of the day's teaching, he went to the 
mountain. He came at a time when the 
world needed light; came of a Jewish 
family and was taught by the scribes 

51 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

that the Jews were the best and the only 
people God honored. He was born and 
reared in a narrow sphere, lived a brief 
life, wrote his message in the sand and 
not in a book, had no influence with the 
men of authority, was hated by his own 
people, betrayed by his own disciple, was 
condemned and killed by a mob, died the 
most ignominious death possible, and yet 
his life and power have touched all parts 
of the globe and transformed the lives 
of millions. 

When He came from among the dead 
the world began a new day. The darkness 
gave way to light and governments began 
to be formed anew. 

He Lives. — All philosophers, with their 
imperfect teachings, have faded away and 
are almost forgotten; but his teachings 
command the attention of the learned 
and the ignorant, the great and the small. 
He is great because he is alive. When 
Peter preached the sermon of Pentecost, 
he preached a live Christ. The preach- 
ing of all of the New Testament ministers 
breathes the doctrine of a living Christ. 
When an army was discouraged and begin- 

52 



JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD 

ning to retreat, the men heard the voice 
of the dying captain when he said, "I see 
you," and they rallied and went to vic- 
tory. The chnrch of Christ succeeds to- 
day because its membership looks at the 
Captain who is able to see them in their 
struggles against evil. Their faith in this 
living Captain gives courage and guaran- 
tees victory. 

The Jews had their Moses, Eome had 
her Caesar, France had her Napoleon, En- 
gland her Gladstone, America her Wash- 
ington, and the church has her Jesus, the 
Christ, the Son of man and the Son of 
God. He is not the son of a man, but the 
son of man — the child of the race. Through 
his veins coursed the blood of all races. 
He is the gift of the Father to the whole 
world. 

His Life Is Unapproachable. — No man 
can improve on the life of Christ. If the 
infidel can offer us something better, let 
him do it. He has had nearly twenty 
centuries to do it and has never ap- 
proached unto it. A noted man said: 
"If Shakespeare were to come into this 
room, we would rise to our feet; but if 
53 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

Christ were to come, we would fall to our 
knees.' ' 

His Sinlessness. — Nearly two thousand 
years ago Christ thrust a challenge into 
the face of blatant atheism and infidelity 
when he said: 'If any man can convince 
me that I have sinned, let him do it. ' ' No 
man from that day until now has ac- 
cepted his challenge. 

His Claims. — If Jesus is not more than 
man, then he was the greatest impostor 
the world has ever seen. The following 
is a beautiful quotation: 

"If Jesus Christ is a mai» 
And only a man, I say 
That, of all mankind, I will cleave to him, 
And to him I will cleave alway.*' 

If he be only a man, then he has been 
a deceiver, and I do not care to cleave to 
one who has proved himself to be the 
greatest deceiver of all ages. 

His Claims. — ' ' I am the bread of 
life." "If you have seen me, you have 
seen the Father.' ' "I am the door." 
"I am the way, the truth and the life." 
"I am the resurrection and the life." "I 
have the power to lay down my life, and 

54 



JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD 

I have the power to take it up again. ' ' "I 
am the good shepherd. ' ' ' * Come unto me, 
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest." 

He Imparts Life. — Man is not saved 
by ethics. Mind culture is a good thing, 
but it can not wash away the guilt of 
sin committed. Man can not lift himself. 
There must be some divine power from 
above that takes hold of him and gets 
into his being and lifts him. Evolution 
can never do it. Jesus can do this for 
man. Christianity is God coming down 
to earth and lifting man up to heaven. 
Christ must be formed in man the hope 
of glory. Man must be in Christ and 
Christ must be in man in order that man 
may be saved. I know that Jesus saves 
because he saved me. The sage said: "I 
need a God who can speak to me." Our 
Christ is near and we can have fellowship 
with him. He forgives sins, is my judge, 
has all authority, is unchangeable and is 
an object of worship. 

He is the one Saviour of the world, 
for there is no other name under heaven 
"wherein we must be saved." 
55 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

"In the still air the music lies unheard; 

In the rough marble beauty hides unseen; 
To make the music and the beauty needs 

The master's touch, the sculptor's chisel keen. 
Great Master, touch us with thy skillful hand; 

Let not the music that is in us die! 
Great Sculptor, hew and polish us; nor let, 

Hidden and lost, thy form within us lie! 
Spare not the stroke! Do with us as thou wilt! 

Let there be naught unfinished, broken, marred; 
Complete thy purpose, that we may become 

Thy perfect image, thou our God and Lord." 

The Church Rests upon Him. — Jesus 
said to Peter, when he confessed him, 
that he would build his church upon the 
rock — the Christ confessed. Paul says: 
" Other foundation can no man lay than 
that is laid, which is Christ Jesus/ ' 

He Is the Creed of His Church. — I 
have trouble and am in court: I do not 
care to read law books; I want a lawyer, 
a man who can represent me before the 
court. I am in financial straits: I do not 
want to hear a lecture on political econo- 
my; I want a man who can come to my 
help with funds. I am sick : I do not want 
medicine books ; I want a living physician 
who can feel my pulse, diagnose my case 
and give the remedy. I am lost, and I 

56 



JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD 

feel the guilt of sin: I do not want theol- 
ogy; I want the living, personal Christ, 
who has the power to comfort and to for- 
give, to come to me and be my helper and 
my Saviour. 

A religion without this Christ is like 
a painted fire that gives out no heat, or 
a painted bouquet that exhales no fra- 
grance. It is like a painted stream of 
water to the thirsty man, which refuses to 
satisfy, but aggravates the suffering. 

The belief in this divine Christ has 
held nations together. Greece had her 
culture and Eome had her law, but they 
could not save them. Take Christ out of 
the Bible, and what would follow? It 
would bleed to death. It would be like 
the shell without the kernel; the wire 
without the electricity; the lamp without 
the oil; the body without the spirit. 

He Has Power to Draw. — He said: 
"And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all 
men unto me." No other person can do 
this. He draws the man of wealth, Zac- 
cheus, and the poor blind beggar, Bar- 
timeus; the cultured Nicodemus and the 
ignorant woman at the well; the poor 

57 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

fisherman and the man of the Sanhedrim 
Men of all nations, all trades, all profes- 
sions and all tastes are drawn together 
by the Christ. He satisfies the wants of 
mankind. He meets every desire of the 
soul. He gives liberty and forms govern- 
ments, gives free speech, free schools, 
free hospitals, free homes; brings peace, 
elevates woman, transforms society. 

What is it that lifts and influences? 
Not a philosophy, but a religion; not an 
intellectual theory, but an experience of 
the soul; not a product of originality, but 
a revelation of our Father and our Broth- 
er; not a system of theology, but a divine 
force and life reaching through all organ- 
ized life. We see it in literature, art, 
climate, character. Take Him out of the 
world, and what would follow? What 
would happen to literature, to art, to 
character? Prayer would die on the lips 
of men; the Old Testament could not be 
understood; there could be no relief in 
the hour of sorrow and death ; there would 
be no hospitals, no homes for the aged 
and the poor, no asylums, no free schools ; 
no more missionaries would be sent out, 

58 



JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD 

and all who are giving themselves in the 
foreign fields would be recalled, and this 
world would become a world without light 
and life. 

My Creed. — It is not, What do you 
think of a dogma? but, What do you think 
of a person? It is not faith in a doctrine, 
but faith in a personality. I can not put 
my creed into writing. I might be able 
to put my intellectual conception, but 
never my heart's trust. I do not believe 
in commands, but in the Commander. I 
repent, not because I believe in repent- 
ance, but because I believe in the One who 
said: "Except ye repent, ye shall perish." 
I do not believe in baptism; I believe in 
the One who commanded me to be bap- 
tized, and therefore I am baptized. I do 
not believe in prayer, but I believe in 
Christ, who has promised to hear when I 
pray, and I pray. 

Let us hear what the people say of 
Christ: John Baptist: "Behold, the Lamb 
of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
world. ' ' The woman of Samaria : ' ' Come, 
see a man who told me all things that 
ever I did: can this be the Christ ?" A 

59 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

devil: "What have I to do with thee, 
Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God?" 
Judas : " I have betrayed innocent blood. ' ' 
Pilate : ' ' I find no fault in him. ' ' Pilate 's 
wife: "Have nothing to do with this just 
one." The centurion: "Truly this was 
the Son of God." The earthquake gave 
testimony in his favor, and on the day of 
Pentecost the Holy Spirit testified through 
his apostles. 

"All hail the power of Jesus' name! 
Let angels prostrate fall; 
Bring forth the royal diadem, 
And crown him Lord of all." 



CO 



IV 

SPIRITUAL WORSHIP 

Text. — ' ' God is a Spirit : and they that worship him 
must worship in spirit and truth. M — John 4: 24. 

"And still the soul a far-off glory sees; 

Strange music hears. 
A something, not of earth, still haunts the breeze, 

The sun and spiheres. 
All things that be, all thought, all love, all joy, 

Spellbind the man, 
As once the growing boy, 

And point afar — 
Point to some land of endless, endless truth, 

Of light and life, 
Where souls, renewed in an immortal youth, 

Shall know the infinite. " 

TV /f AN is a religious being. He is the 
***- offspring of Jehovah and naturally 
is an upward-looking animal. One thing 
that distinguishes him from all other ani- 
mals is his religious instinct — his desire 
to worship. He must have a God. If 
revelation does not reveal his God, then 
he will create a God. He knows that the 
best within his heart has come from 

61 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

above, and he finds himself reaching out 
after the source of all good. He feels 
within his soul a holy aspiration to be 
holy. He must lean upon one greater 
than himself, he must commune with one 
who possesses more wisdom and power 
than he possesses. He must have a God 
that can sympathize with him and who 
will have compassion when he is weak 
and conscious of his lost and helpless con- 
dition. In the language of one of old, he 
finds himself exclaiming: "Lord, I have 
loved the habitation of thy house, and the 
place where thine honor dwelleth. I will 
offer in thy dwelling an oblation with 
great gladness. I will sing and speak 
praise unto the Lord. One thing have I 
desired of the Lord which I will require, 
even that I may dwell in the house of the 
Lord all the days of my life ; to behold the 
beauty of the Lord, and to visit his tem- 
ple.' ' "Oh! how amiable are thy dwell- 
ings, thou Lord of hosts! My soul hath 
a desire and longing to enter into the 
courts of the Lord; my heart and my 
flesh rejoice in the living God. Blessed 
are they that dwell in thy house, they will 



SPIRITUAL WORSHIP 



still be praising thee." "One day in thy 
courts is better than a thousand. I had 
rather be a doorkeeper in the house of 
my God than to dwell in the tents of un- 
godliness." "What reward shall I give 
unto the Lord for all the benefits that he 
hath done unto me? I will receive the 
cup of salvation, and call upon the name 
of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto 
the Lord in the sight of all his people; 
in the courts of the Lord's house, even 
in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.' ' 
Can you say in the language of the 
Psalmist: "I was glad when they said 
unto me, Let us go into the house of the 
Lord"? 

When we study the history of the hu- 
man family we find that the people of 
every age worshiped. As we begin the 
study of this history we are told that Cain 
and Abel sacrificed unto Jehovah. The 
altar was given its proper place in their 
lives. In this first age we read of a man 
who walked with God, and one day he 
followed him too far to come back; he 
went with him into his invisible kingdom 
and took up his abode with him. 
5 63 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

When Noah had been redeemed through 
the water and had come into the new 
world, he honored his God by building 
an altar and sacrificing unto him. It was 
then that God smelled a sweet savor and 
said in his heart: "I will not again curse 
the ground any more for man's sake." 

Abraham heard the call and obeyed 
God. He was a man of faith and was 
constantly in communion with Jehovah. 
He was strong in his faith because he 
did not get far from his altar. 

In the beginning, when men called 
upon the name of Jehovah, they did not 
have attractive and comfortable houses of 
worship; they met out in the groves, un- 
der the tent of azure blue which had been 
stretched by the hand of a personal and 
a living God, and there on his footstool, 
over which he had spread the carpet of 
green and pinned it down with the lilies, 
he held sacred communion with his God. 
After awhile he erected a tabernacle ac- 
cording to the pattern which God had 
given in the mount, and there God re- 
corded his name, and his people came to 
worship. By and by the children of men 

64: 



SPIRITUAL WORSHIP 



were permitted to erect a beautiful and 
a magnificent temple unto Jehovah, and 
then they met in this house which had 
been dedicated unto Jehovah and here 
they called upon his name. 

Miniature temples — the synagogues — 
were erected that the people might be ac- 
commodated, and in these places God had 
recorded his name and the people met to 
study his word, to pray unto him and to 
worship. 

We are told of a noted man who made 
a long pilgrimage from his home to Je- 
rusalem for the purpose of worship. This 
man, on his return, heard the gospel from 
the lips of one of God's evangelists and 
became a Christian. 

Jesus' life was one of worship. He 
spent the whole night in prayer. He with- 
drew from the crowd that he might get 
close to his Father and have fellowship 
with him. His soul was filled with indig- 
nation when he came into the temple and 
saw it being desecrated by the thieves and 
the robbers. 

No man can willfully absent himself 
from the place of worship and continue 

65 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

spiritual. Certain ones were exhorted by 
the apostle not to forsake the assembling 
of themselves together. It is in the honse 
of the Lord we get instruction. "Thy 
way, God, is in the sanctuary. When I 
thought to know this, it was too painful 
for me; until I went into the sanctuary 
of God; then understood I their end." 

Here the people are converted. Here 
we find the elements of spiritual life. 
Here we have the emblems that represent 
the death and the resurrection of our Lord. 
Here we receive strength and comfort. 
"But they that wait for Jehovah shall 
renew their strength; they shall mount 
up with wings as eagles; they shall run, 
and not be weary; they shall walk, and 
not faint" (Isa. 40:31). Here the indi- 
vidual burden is forgotten. We come 
into the place of worship thinking of our- 
selves and of our burdens, and when the 
songs are being sung, the Word is heard 
read, the prayers are being offered, we 
see Jesus; and then we lose sight of our- 
selves and of our troubles, and soon we 
have found that our light afflictions have 
wrought out for us an exceeding and an 
66 



SPIRITUAL WORSHIP 



eternal weight of glory. Here we give 
an outward expression of our inward life. 
Here we meet with Jesus. He has prom- 
ised to be in the midst of the two or 
three that meet in his name. He never 
disappoints. The disciple that stays away 
from the place of worship will miss see- 
ing Jesus. The one that misses the pres- 
ence of the Christ will soon begin to 
doubt. Thomas was a doubter because 
he was not present when Jesus came. 

The normal Christian will worship. 
Not to worship means to become bestial. 
This germ of reverence in the heart must 
be watered at least once a week. Suppose 
no one came to the house of the Lord on 
the Lord's Bay, what would follow? No 
worship would soon mean no church of 
Christ, and no church and no opposition 
to evil would soon result in barbarism and 
universal darkness. The one who remains 
away from the house of worship is an 
enemy to good society and a promoter of 
all that is devilish. 

Manner of Worship. — "But let all 
things be done decently and in order' ' (1 
Cor. 14:40). Why did the apostle write 

67 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

these words! The members of the church 
at Corinth had lost their reverence for 
the Lord's table. Some of the members got 
drunk on the wine and they made a feast 
out of this holy Supper. We teach our 
children to be mannerly when in the 
homes of neighbors. It is more important 
to teach them to be mannerly and rever- 
ent when in the house of the Lord. It is 
here we come into the presence of God, 
Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the spirits 
of just ones made perfect. 

Our worship consists of preaching, 
and no one should sleep in the house of 
the Lord and in the presence of the King 
of kings. He should give heed to the 
things read and the things spoken. No 
one should talk and visit when in the act 
of worship. It consists of praying. All 
should kneel, or stand or bow the head, 
when the minister says, "Let us pray." 
We should all do the same thing. The 
one who leads the prayer should not be 
expected to do all the praying for all the 
congregation. He is only leading, and all 
should unite in spirit in the prayer to our 
spiritual God. 



SPIRITUAL WORSHIP 



Singing is a part of the worship. We 
should sing with the spirit and with the 
understanding also. We have no more 
right to hire a quartet to do our singing 
than we have to hire one to do our pray- 
ing. When the minister says, "Let all the 
congregation sing," all should sing or 
make a joyful noise unto the Lord. The 
one who leads the music or sings the spe- 
cial song should be a Christian. Let us 
understand that God is a Spirit, and that 
he must be worshiped in spirit and in 
truth, and that a singer should worship 
in his singing as much as the minister 
worships in his preaching or you wor- 
ship in your praying. If he does not 
worship in this act, then it is solemn 
mockery and an abomination in the sight 
of God. 

Fellowship is also a part of worship. 
It is just as essential to give as it is to 
pray. We must understand that the act 
of giving is an act of worship, and we 
must give in the spirit and with the un- 
derstanding also. It is important that all 
shall worship. "Let every one of you lay 
by in store on the first day of the week 

69 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

as the Lord hath prospered him" (1 Cor* 
16:2). 

The sermon should be simple and 
given in a way that all can understand 
it. Paul's ambition was to be understood. 
He says: "I thank God, I speak with 
tongues more than all of you: howbeit in 
the church I had rather speak five words 
with my understanding, that I might in- 
struct others also, than ten thousand 
words in a tongue.' ' The preacher has 
no right to show himself off. Think of a 
minister spending an hour before a mir- 
ror practicing on his gestures that he 
might appear unto men to preach! The 
real minister will feel that he is worship- 
ing God in sermon. The window-pane 
that is painted and gaudy is not good for 
letting in the light; the minister that is 
drunk on egotism, and that tries to place 
himself on a pedestal, is a stumbling-stone 
to every honest man or woman. He is 
missing the mark, and sooner or later 
will be found out to be a miserable hypo- 
crite. 

"Let us have grace whereby we may 
worship him acceptably with reverence 

70 



SPIRITUAL WORSHIP 



and godly fear." Let us heed the words 
of the inspired writer: "Worship the 
Lord in the beauty of holiness." Rever- 
ence is the essence of true worship, and 
if there be no reverence there is no wor- 
ship. 

Here in Body, but Absent in Spirit. — \ 
We have those who occupy a pew at al- 
most every service, but they are absent. 
They are here in body, but miles away 
in spirit. A minister received the con- 
fession of a man who had been a frequent 
visitor at his church. He was anxious to 
know which one of his sermons impressed 
him, and dared to ask. The man said: 
"I have never heard you preach. It is 
true I have filled a place in the pew many^ 
times while you were preaching, but I 
did not hear you. I was calculating and 
counting prospective gains I hoped to 
make that week. I was present, but never 
heard you. I was made to think by the 
simple life of a Christian woman." 

Present in Spirit. — We have another 

class who stay away from the services, 

but always tell the minister that they 

are with him in spirit. I had a man like 

71 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

this in my congregation. He would visit 
on Sundays and let any little excuse keep 
him from the house of worship, and when 
I would tell him I missed him, he would 
immediately inform me that he was with 
me in spirit. I told him I was afraid of 
ghosts. Think of a minister on a Sun- 
day morning preaching to a thousand 
ghosts! I'd rather have five spirits in 
bodies present at a church service. 

Should Prepare for It. — When a pa- 
tient is to undergo an operation he is pre- 
pared for it. To get the best out of the 
Lord's Day worship we should spend 
some time shut in with God, with the 
world shut out, and get our hearts in 
tune for the day. Let us give our spirit 
a chance to grow. 

"What am I? 
Naught! But the effluence of Thy light divine, 

Pervading worlds, hath reached my bosom too. 
Yes, in my spirit doth Thy spirit shine, 

As shines the sunbeam in a drop of dew. 
Naught! But I live, and on Hope's pinions fly 

Eager toward Thy presence; for in Thee 
I live and breathe and dwell, aspiring high, 

Even to the tihrone of Thy divinity. 

I am, O God, and surely thou must be! " 



72 



CHRIST'S PRAYERS 

Text. — "And it came to pass, as lie was praying 
in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his dis- 
ciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as 
John also taught his disciples. ' 9 — Luke 11 : 1. 

DRAYER is the spirit of Christianity. 
* There can be no spiritual life without 
it. It is the Christian's breath. Man can 
no more live a Christian life without 
praying than he can live a physical life 
without breathing. To be physically 
strong we must breathe deeply. There 
are many sickly church-members to-day 
because they are too lazy to breathe into 
their souls the oxygen of heaven. It is 
two spirits holding communion. Like the 
commerce carried on between the oceans 
and the clouds, bringing down the moist- 
ure in the dew and rain to quench the 
thirst of vegetation, and then ascending 
again in the mists back to the clouds to 
return again to fill the babbling brooks, 

73 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

the rivulets and the rivers which roll into 
the fountains of the great deep, our spir- 
its go out to God for help and guidance, 
and the blessings come from his unwast- 
ing hand to satisfy our wants. 

Prayer belongs to all ages and to all 
peoples. In every Christian's heart must 
be his altar of incense. When the fires 
go out upon this altar, his spiritual life 
becomes extinct. 

The Scientific View. — We are told by 
the scientist that God does not answer our 
prayers; that God works according to a 
fixed law, and that to answer the prayers 
of his children he would have to violate 
his laws. We are told that we do not 
bring heaven down to earth when we 
pray, but that we lift ourselves up to 
heaven. Imagine a man standing at a 
closed door, one he knew would not open, 
and knocking, or a thirsty soul pumping 
at a dry well ! We believe that our Father 
hears and answers the prayers of the 
saints. He has commanded us to knock, 
with the promise that it shall be opened 
unto us; to seek, with the promise that 
we shall find. 

74 



CHRIST'S PRAYERS 



We can not explain how prayer influ- 
ences God; there are many things we can 
not explain, but we know from experience 
that it does. Every Christian has the con- 
sciousness of a living and a prayer-an- 
swering God. He knows that with this 
God he has had personal and vital rela- 
tions, and that he has had with him the 
closest affinity and fellowship. The con- 
sciousness of this fellowship is a unique 
and distinct thing, found only in the re- 
ligion of Jesus Christ. 

We must learn to pray. Man learns 
to articulate the language of heaven just 
as the babe learns to speak its mother 
tongue. Every member of the family of 
our Father in heaven is invited to take 
lessons under the divine Teacher. There 
is no excuse, and we can not plead ig- 
norance. When should we begin to pray? 
The moment we are born into the divine 
family we will naturally begin to make an 
effort to make known our desires unto 
our Father. 

Jesus Was Given to Prayer. — He 
would spend the night in holy communion 
with his Father. If this sinless, spotless, 
75 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

divine Son of God had to pray in order 
to do the work of his God, do yon think 
it possible for his disciples to live his 
life and do his work without it? A man 
withont sin, and filled with the Holy Spir- 
it, recognized the importance of prayer. 
He practiced what he preached and 
preached what he practiced. 

Have yon ever studied the prayers of 
this master Teacher? "And in the morn- 
ing, rising np a great while before day, 
he went ont, and departed into a solitary 
place, and there prayed.' ' "And when 
he had sent them away, he departed into 
a mountain to pray." When the work 
was pressing and he needed strength, he 
went to his Father in prayer. "But so 
much the more went there a fame abroad 
of him: and great multitudes came to- 
gether to hear him, and to be healed by 
him of their infirmities. And he with- 
drew himself into the wilderness, and 
prayed." He would not select his apos- 
tles without first engaging in prayer. 
"And it came to pass in those days, that 
he went out into a mountain to pray, and 
he continued all night in prayer to God." 

76 



CHRIST'S PRAYERS 



Unrecorded Prayers. — The Gospel 
writers tell us of the times when our Lord 
prayed, but they do not always record 
the prayers. I have often wondered what 
he said. We know they were prayers of 
earnestness and of faith. "Now when 
all the people were baptized, it came to 
pass that Jesus, also being baptized, and 
praying, the heaven was opened.'' 

When Saul was told what to do to 
be saved, he was commanded to continue 
to call on the name of the Lord. When 
Jesus had looked into the heart of Simon 
Peter, he discovered that he was self-con- 
scious and weak and that there was dan- 
ger of falling. He knew that he was a 
man of good intentions, but that he was 
easily influenced. He was taking an in- 
ventory of the spiritual strength and 
power of the apostleship, and he found 
that Judas was lost to his cause, and that 
the devil meant to sift all of them. Judas 
had already gone through the sieve, and 
there was danger of Peter, too, going 
through. He says: "Simon, Satan hath 
desired to have you [all of the apostles], 
to sift you as wheat: but I have prayed 

77 






SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

for thee [Peter] that your faith fail you 
not." It is glorious to know that our 
great High Priest is acquainted with us, 
and that he takes us to his Father in 
prayer, and that his prayers are always 
answered. 

When He was on the Mount of Trans- 
figuration he prayed, and it was at the 
moment of prayer that the fashion of his 
countenance was altered, and his raiment 
was white and glistering, and the Father 
again confessed him. 

Certain Things for Which He Prayed. 
— When standing under the shadow of the 
cross, he thought of his church and king- 
dom, and he prayed that his disciples, and 
those who might believe oil him through 
their word, should be one. The world 
was on his heart, and he knew that it 
could never be brought into the divine 
fellowship so long as they were divided. 
He prayed that they might be one as he 
and his Father were one, and that the 
world might believe that God had sent 
him into the world to be its Saviour. 

When he was on earth he was limited 
in his power and in his authority. He 

78 



CHRIST'S PRAYERS 



was then a human as well as a divine 
Christ. He looked forward to the time 
when he would be a spiritual Christ, and 
when all power and all authority would 
be given unto him. To have this power 
he must go away from them. He told 
them that after he went away he would 
pray the Father to send to them another 
Comforter, another Advocate, the Holy 
Spirit, and that when he came he would 
abide with them forever. The world could 
lay hold on him, the Christ of flesh, and 
take him from them, but they would not 
be able to receive — to take hold of — this 
spiritual Guest he was to send into their 
hearts from his Father in answer to his 
prayer. The world might take them and 
lock them up in the prison cell, and it 
might kill them, but it can never get hold 
of the Holy Spirit that shall live in them. 
They would need equipment for the great 
work of the kingdom, and the coming of 
the Spirit would qualify them for the 
work. He would bring to their minds 
everything he wanted them to preach; he 
would tell them in the hour of need the 
message to deliver. 

79 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

At the conclusion of that last public 
discourse, when Christ placed emphasis on 
sacrifice and service and uttered that won- 
derful statement, "Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall 
into the ground and die, it abideth by 
itself alone ; but if it die, it beareth much 
fruit,' ' he prayed these words: "Father, 
save me from this hour. But for this 
cause came I unto this hour. Father, 
glorify thy name." This prayer was an- 
swered. There came a voice out of heaven, 
saying: "I have both glorified it, and will 
glorify it again.' ' 

When in the dark garden of Gethsem- 
ane, crushed under the sins of the whole 
world, he prayed that the cup might be 
removed from him. He was about to die 
from physical exhaustion. He wanted to 
finish the work he had come into the world 
to do. He needed strength at this critical 
moment. Eead Hebrews, chapter 5, and 
you can see what he meant by "this 
cup." He received an answer to this 
prayer. Did he pray to escape the cross? 
If he did, he did not receive an answer. 
He came into the world for this purpose. 

80 



CHRIST'S PRAYERS 



He wanted to escape physical death, 
and he sweat drops of blood. An angel 
came to him and strengthened him, and 
he went joyfully to the cross to become a 
sacrifice for sins. 

When dying on the cross, he prayed 
for those who had caused his death. As 
he looked on them, in the anguish of his 
soul he prayed: "Father, forgive them, 
for they know not what they do." He 
had taught his disciples to pray for their 
enemies, and he is now practicing his 
teaching. Was this prayer answered? 
Yes; on the day of Pentecost, when Peter 
preached the gospel, they were present 
and heard the message. He told them 
of their awful deed. They asked to know 
what to do, and were told to repent and 
be baptized, and these murderers became 
the charter members of the church of 
Jesus Christ. 

A Capable Teacher. — All will agree 
that Jesus is a capable teacher. If any 
one ever knew the meaning and the power 
of prayer, he did. As he started from the 
Jordan to do his Father's will, he started 
with a prayer on his lips, and when he 

81 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

finished his work on the cross he closed 
it with a prayer. The chnrch of Christ 
can not carry out the Christ program un- 
less it learns to pray. All great souls 
have been much in prayer. All great spir- 
itual movements have had their birth in 
prayer. The church that desires to send 
out ministers and missionaries must first 
send out earnest, fervent prayers. If 
these are sent out, the others will follow. 
The success of the church does not rest 
so much on the gifts of a wealthy mem- 
ber as it does upon the prayers of a con- 
secrated and faithful member. Before 
Pentecost and the great revival there was 
a prayer-meeting in the upper room. We 
care nothing about theology — the world 
is tired of it, too — but we are interested 
in knee-ology. If we want to drive out 
the demons, let us advance on our knees. 
An Irishman was pounding the rocks on 
the street in a city. The Catholic priest 
was looking on. He said: "Pat, I wish 
I could break the hearts of my people like 
you break these stones." "Faith, and you 
could/ ' said Pat, "if you would stay on 
your knees like I do. ,, The church of 

82 



CHRIST'S PRAYERS 



Jesus Christ can never conquer this sin~ 
cursed world unless it learns to pray. 

On one occasion, an evangelist was be- 
ing assisted by his young Timothy. He 
would send the young man to the next 
field to begin the work, and he would fol- 
low later. The young man was sent into 
a difficult field. It was a town that had 
not had a revival in a long time. The 
people did not seem to be interested in 
such things. The young man began the 
meeting and soon received a letter stating 
that the evangelist could not come for 
some time, on account of an accident that 
had happened to one of his children. He 
advised him to continue the meeting. Af- 
ter a number of days he arrived at the 
town and found that the whole community 
was being stirred. Sinners were being 
converted and the cold and indifferent 
members had begun to come too. He in- 
quired of the young minister how it hap- 
pened, and this is what he said: "It has 
been one of the hardest experiences of 
my life. You said to 'go on' and the peo- 
ple said: 'We did not ask you to hold the 
meeting, and we want it stopped. ' " The 

83 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

evangelist then asked how it happened 
he was having such a wonderful meeting, 
and he said: "Come and go with me to 
the power-house. ' * He expected it was 
a place where he would see machinery, 
but it was a plain log cabin and in it 
were two old women. He said: "Each 
evening I'd come to this place and we 
three would get down on our knees and 
pray, and then I'd go to the meeting- 
house and preach, and the interest 
grew." Every church and every minis- 
ter needs a power-house. 

4 'Believe and trust; through stars and suns, 

Through life and death, through soul and sense, 
His wise paternal purpose runs; 
The darkness of His providence 
Is starlit with divine intents." 



84 



VI 

LEARNING TO PRAY 

Text. — ' ' Lord, teaoh us to pray. ' ' — Luke 11 : 1. 

•""THE children of our heavenly Father 
* must learn to speak his language. It 
will be our purpose in this discourse to 
study this important duty. To whom should 
we pray? We have heard men pray to the 
Holy Spirit. Is this right? When the 
disciples came to Jesus with the request 
that he teach them how to pray, he said: 
" After this manner pray ye." He then 
gave them the model prayer. This was 
to be their pattern or copy, and they were 
to make their prayers to correspond with 
the copy. The prayer is to be addressed 
to our Father — to God. We must ap- 
proach the Father in the name of the 
Lord Jesus. Sometimes we are convinced 
that people pray to the audience rather 
than to God. It can be detected in the 
tone of their voices, and we are disgusted 
rather than edified. 

85 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

One reason why some will not pray 
in public is because they are afraid those 
to whom they pray will criticize. On one 
occasion a man who believed in "free 
grace" had in his audience a man who 
was a strong believer in " Calvinism. ' * 
He did not want to say anything that 
would offend him, and he tried to make 
a prayer that was a cross between the 
two doctrines, and he stammered and hesi- 
tated and then exclaimed: "What is the 
matter with me! I can not pray." The 
man in the audience said, in reply: "Stop 
praying to me and pray to God." I was 
one time conducting a meeting for a man 
who was eloquent in prayer, and he im- 
pressed you with the thought that he 
knew it. He prayed three times in one 
of the meetings. His language was per- 
fect, and he threw bouquets to God and 
then seemed to wait for applause. You 
could feel that there was a lack of sin- 
cerity, and that his prayers were directed 
at the audience, and I was reminded of 
the reporter in Boston who said, in speak- 
ing of a man's prayer: "He prayed the 
most eloquent prayer that was ever pray- 
86 



LEARNING TO PRAY 



ed to a Boston audience." I told him 
after the services that I felt he was cer- 
tainly gifted in prayer, but suggested 
that he tell God all of these things in 
private and not in public, for I thought 
God would understand him better than we 
did. 

Bow Should We Pray? — Paul says: 
"I will pray with the spirit, and I will 
pray with the understanding also. ' ' What 
does he mean by praying with the under- 
standing? We are told that "Elijah was 
a man of like passions with us, and he 
prayed fervently that it might not rain; 
and it rained not on the earth for three 
years and six months. And he prayed 
again; and the heaven gave rain, and the 
earth brought forth her fruit.' ' Let us 
read Dent. 28:15-24. Here we find that 
God had promised that, if the children of 
Israel turned from him and went after 
other gods and became disobedient, he 
would shut up the heavens and withhold 
the rain. Israel had become guilty and 
deserved to be punished. Do you not 
think that Elijah knew these promises and 
that he presented them to his God in his 

87 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

prayers! This is praying according to 
the Word and according to the under- 
standing also. Then, when the people 
turned and he prayed for the rain, we be- 
lieve that he remembered the promises 
contained in the "Word as mentioned in 1 
Kings' 8:35: "When the heaven is shut 
Tip, and there is no rain, because they 
have sinned against thee; if they pray 
toward this place, and confess thy name, 
and turn from their sin, when thou dost 
afflict them: then hear thou in heaven, 
and forgive the sin of thy servants, and 
of thy people Israel, when thou teachest 
them the good way wherein they should 
walk; and send rain upon thy land, which 
thou hast given to thy people for an in- 
heritance." We know that we are asking 
according to his will when we ask ac- 
cording to his promises. The old proph- 
et could tell God that the people had now 
complied with his word, and he could ask 
that God send the rain, and he did it. 

How Long Should Our Prayers Be? — 
This depends. If in private, you may 
pray all night; but in public they should 
be short. We knew a man who made long 

88 



LEARNING TO PRAY 



prayers. We wondered when we heard 
him if he did not try to make up for lost 
time. He would begin in a certain way 
and go over Virginia, the United States, 
then over the waters into the foreign 
lands and come back home by way of 
South America, closing with these sig- 
nificant words: "Now, Lord, since we are 
not heard for our much speaking, and 
since thou knowest what we have need of 
before we ask thee, give unto us the things 
thou knowest we need. Amen." He re- 
minded us of the man who had one prayer, 
and it was a long one he prayed each 
night in his home. The children knew it 
by heart, and could repeat every word 
of it. One night a Jew peddler stopped 
for the night with him. When the time 
came for worship he read the lesson and 
all got down on their knees. The peddler 
got tired and changed from one knee to 
the other, hoping to rest them a little. 
After he had grown weary he whispered 
to one of the boys near him and asked: 
"Is he 'most done?" The boy asked: 
"Has he said 'Jew' yet? He is just half 
done when he gets to the Jews." This is 

89 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

not praying; it is simply saying over 
words in God's name. We should have a 
definite desire when we go to our Father 
in prayer. We should go to him as a child 
goes to its earthly father. Do not change 
the voice; do not make a speech; do not 
try to give God information; do not be 
like the preacher who tried to rebuke the 
young man for misbehaving during the 
services when he said: "Lord, there are 
a lot of things going on here to-night 
that thou art not aware of." Have you 
not heard men in prayer when you felt 
that they were trying to give God in- 
formation? If Peter had prayed at great 
length when he was sinking into the 
lake, it is morally certain that he would 
have been under the water and dead 
before he could have finished the prayer. 
He wanted help and he asked for it 
in a sensible manner. He went straight 
to the point: "Lord, save me or I per- 
ish." 

Praying with Open Eyes. — Jesus told 
his disciples to "watch and pray, that ye 
enter not into temptation." Many times 
we pray with our eyes closed to the pit- 

90 



LEARNING TO PRAY 



falls in life's pathway, and we walk right 
into them. It is just as necessary to 
watch as it is to pray. You have heard of 
the story of "Raccoon" John Smith and 
the wine. In his day it was an act of 
hospitality to place the wine on the table 
where all could get it — everybody (preach- 
ers included) ; and I have always won- 
dered why the members of the church 
could do things the preacher could not do. 
If it were ever right for the member to 
drink wine, it was light for the preacher 
too. When Smith Hn'd a minister of an- 
other church stopped at a country tavern 
to spend the night, the tavern-keeper put 
the decanter on the table and they filled 
their glasses full of wine. Smith turned 
up his glass and swallowed the wine. The 
preacher rebuked him by saying: "Broth- 
er Smith, I am surprised that you would 
drink your wine without first returning 
thanks. It is from God we receive every 
good and perfect gift. I am going to 
thank God before I drink.' ' He shut his 
eyes and began to thank God. Smith 
reached over and got his glass and drank 
his wine. When the preacher opened his 

91 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

eyes he saw that his wine was gone and 
he said: "You got my wine." Smith re- 
plied: "Brother, yon must watch as well 
as pray, I thanked God, but did it with 
my eyes open; you did it with your eyes 
closed and you lost your wine." 

Putting Action into Our Prayers. — 
Man must answer his own prayers. He 
must do his part and trust God to do the 
rest. "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, 
and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be 
opened unto you." When you pray for 
your daily bread, do not expect God to 
rain down a mess of biscuits for break- 
fast, but remember that he will give them 
to you when you have earned them in the 
sweat of your face. If you want the 
earth to laugh biscuits, tickle it with the 
plow. 

An evangelist was conducting a meet- 
ing in one of our cities. A woman came 
to him and requested him to speak to her 
husband about becoming a Christian. He 
asked: "Have you ever spoken to him 
on the subject?" She said she had not. 
He then told her he would not speak to 
him until after she had spoken. When 
92 



LEARNING TO PRAY 



she came to church that night her husband 
was with her. She was happy and went 
to the minister and said: "I went home 
and prayed that God would give me the 
courage to speak to my husband. I 
watched for him, and when I saw him 
coming through the gate I ran to him and 
threw my arms around his neck and be- 
gan to cry. He asked me what was the 
matter, and I told him that he was lost 
and I wanted him to promise me he would 
become a Christian, and he told me he 
had often wondered why I had not spoken 
to him on the subject, and that he 
would be glad to accept Christ." This 
woman was learning how to answer her 
prayers. 

Individual Prayer. — "But thou, when 
thou prayest, enter into thine inner cham- 
ber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy 
Father who is in secret, and thy Father 
who seeth in secret shall reward thee 
openly.' ' Do you see that mother who 
was left with a number of fatherless chil- 
dren? Many times she prayed to her 
God in secret for wisdom and help in 
training her children. Her children are 
93 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

now filling responsible positions, and she 
is enjoying openly the reward of indi- 
vidual and private prayer. We had, in a 
congregation where we labored, a man 
who was a machinist and who refused to 
work on Sunday. He was discharged. 
He began to sell groceries, and his busi- 
ness grew until he became one of the lead- 
ing merchants of the city. Many times 
did he tell me that he was in partnership 
with God, and that his success was a re- 
ward for earnest prayer. 

United Prayer. — Here is the promise: 
" Again I say unto you, that if two of you 
shall agree on earth as touching anything 
that they shall ask, it shall be done for 
them of my Father who is in heaven.' y 
The church had its birth in a prayer- 
meeting. "And when they were come in, 
they went up into the upper chamber, 
where they were abiding; both Peter and 
John and James and Andrew, Philip and 
Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, 
James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the 
Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These 
all continued stedfastly in prayer, with 
the women, and Mary the mother of Je- 
94 



LEARNING TO PRAY 



sus, and with the brethren. ' ' Thomas be- 
came a doubter because he was not with 
them when Jesus came. This was before 
Jesus went back to the Father. It was 
during the postgraduate period when he 
was instructing his disciples in the spir- 
itual things of the kingdom. Jesus has 
promised to meet with us when we have 
gathered together in prayer. He never 
disappoints. When you remain away 
from the prayer-meeting you have missed 
seeing Jesus. Paul exhorted the saints to 
meet for prayer. "Now I beseech you, 
brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive 
together with me in your prayers to God 
for me" (Rom. 15:30). 

Family Prayer. — The family altar has 
been taken away, and we have allowed the 
things of the world to crowd God out of 
our thoughts and out of our homes. 
Joshua said: "As for me and my house, 
we will serve the Lord." The men of old 
erected their altar and worshiped God in 
the home. Job practiced family religion. 
Read Job 1 : 5. Cornelius prayed to God 
with his house or family. 
7 95 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

The father that neglects this will lose 
in spirituality and miss getting the bless- 
ing. When holding a meeting for one of 
the churches in the valley of Virginia, I 
urged the importance of the family altar. 
I came back to the community five miles 
from this church to conduct another meet- 
ing. A man who had been an elder in 
the church for many years came to me 
and said : i ' I want you to preach that ser- 
mon on family prayer. I have been an 
elder in the church for years and never 
knew the importance of it. After hear- 
ing you, wife and I erected the altar, and 
soon our daughter would take her turn 
and we have been blessed, and I just want 
others to know that it brings joy and 
strength. I want others to get the bless- 
ing.' ' 

When holding a meeting in Washing- 
ton City, a good woman came to me after 
the sermon and said: "I want you to go 
home with us." I did, and she gave her 
experience. I shall relate it as she gave 
it. "When you were at our home in Ten- 
nessee, you know old Scott [this was her 
husband] would not even return thanks 

96 



LEARNING TO PRAY 



at the table. I told him some time ago 
that we were not going to live this way. 
We must have an altar in our home. Scott 
said he just couldn 't pray in public. Well, 
one night I got the Bible and asked him 
to read and pray, and he refused, then I 
said, 'I will,' and I read a chapter; then 
I told Scott to get down on his knees and 
I prayed. The next night when I took 
the Bible he said, 'Let me have it,' and he 
read and prayed. We have our worship, 
and I want you to come and be with us.'' 
I could see that they had grown in the 
grace and in the knowledge of Jesus 
Christ. They had been feeding their souls 
on the hidden manna. 

There lived a family on the opposite 
side of the street from our home. They 
trusted in God. The man lost his posi- 
tion and was almost in destitution. One 
day I saw he was selling goods and that 
he had quite a stock. He told me this: 
"Bro. Book, one night when it seemed so 
dark and I was discouraged, my little 
daughter saw my grief and came to me 
and said, 'Papa, let me ask God for help,' 
and she asked God to give her papa some- 

97 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

thing to do, and this is in answer to that 
prayer. Many years ago I assisted a 
young man who was in hard luck. I had 
lost sight of him. After that prayer a 
letter came, and it was from this man, 
and he told how he had wanted to show 
his appreciation for what I had done for 
him, and he sent the check and asked me 
to take it and purchase goods and to go 
into business. I am here in answer to 
the prayer of my child." This family had 
honored God in the home and he was now 
rewarding them openly. 



VII 

PRAYER A NECESSITY 

Text. — "Continue stedfastly in prayer, watching 
therein with thanksgiving; withal praying for us also, 
that God may open unto us a door for the word, to 
speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in 
bonds; that I may make it manifest, as I ought to 
speak."— Col. 4:2-4. 

■""PHERE must be seven distinct elements 
■■■ in every prayer : adoration, thanksgiv- 
ing, repentance, resolution, petition, inter- 
cession and submission. Paul was a man 
of prayer. He has much to say on the 
subject, in his epistles to the churches. 
He often requested that the brethren pray 
for him. He seemed to think that his 
success in the ministry was conditioned 
upon the prayers of the saints. Feeling 
his human weakness, and seeing the forces 
of evil arrayed against him, he wrote to 
the brethren at Thessalonica : "Finally, 
brethren, pray for us, that the word of 
the Lord may run and be glorified." 

99 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

If a man like Paul, cultured, eloquent, 
logical, Spirit-filled, and in every way 
capable, felt that he could not succeed 
without he had the prayers of the church, 
can you expect your minister to be at his 
best when you never take his name to 
God in prayer? On one occasion I went 
into the pulpit of a church that had some 
of the symptoms of a would-be aristo- 
cratic, proud, polished and critical con- 
gregation. I was there to hold a meeting, 
and for one time in my life felt just a 
little anxious to say the right thing in 
the right way. I was conscious of the 
opinion they had of themselves and tried 
to get their approval. I was cramped, 
and stammered and blundered in my de- 
livery. One evening, as I was going into 
the pulpit, a consecrated woman, a woman 
who believed in the power of prayer, and 
who had evidently detected my embarrass- 
ment, met me at the pulpit and, taking 
my hand in hers, said: "You preach, 
brother, and I will pray for you." Say, 
I preached that night! I cut loose all 
strings and it was easy. I could feel the 
power. "You preach and I will pray." 

100 



PRAYER A NECESSITY 

I had always felt it was, "You preach 
and I will criticize." 

When I visited my old home in Vir- 
ginia I would preach in the old church. 
The colored people would come to hear 
me and they would sit in the gallery. Old 
Uncle Sam Carter, an ex-slave, would 
break in now and then with a word of 
prayer and it could be heard by all. He 
came to me one time after I had preached, 
and said: "I jis ? can't see how you 
preach; none of de people scotch fer ye. 
I jis' felt like I had to scotch some while 
you was givin' dem de Word." I want to 
say that the consciousness of this old, 
humble saint praying for me did help. 
If the people would prepare themselves 
for the sermon before coming to the house 
of the Lord, there would not be so much 
criticism. We all agree that the minister 
should be much in prayer before he comes 
into the pulpit. He should get heart pow- 
er on his knees. It is just as necessary 
that the people, also, be in the proper con- 
dition to hear the message, and this prep- 
aration, too, must be made on the knees. 
Have you prayed for your minister! If 
101 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

you have not, begin now. Make it the rule 
of your life to pray for him daily. 

"What is prayer? One time a father 
took his boy from the country home to 
the city. They visited the telegraph sta- 
tion. The little fellow heard something 
going 1 1 Click, click, click ; click, click, click. ' ' 
He asked his father to tell him what it was. 
The father tried to explain, and then said : 
"Do you want to speak to uncle who lives 
in Calif ©mia?" The boy wondered how 
he could be heard so far away. The father 
had to tell him what he wanted to 
say, and he wrote it down and handed it 
to the operator. The operator placed his 
fingers on the instrument, and it began to 
say, "Click, click, click; click, click, click.' y 
After a short time it began again, and the 
operator wrote down some words and 
handed them to the man. He read them 
to the son. The uncle had received the 
message, and this was his reply. The 
boy could not quite understand how he 
could speak to one so far away. He was 
told how the sounds were carried by elec- 
tricity and how they could be read by the 
operator at the other end of the line. 
102 



PRAYER A NECESSITY 

This is like prayer. There is a connec- 
tion between the heart of the child of God 
and his Father. The man had to come to 
the city, where there was a telegraph sta- 
tion and one who could send the message 
for him; he had to pay to send it; it had 
to be received by the operator and then 
given to him. Every Christian has con- 
nection with heaven and is his own opera- 
tor, and he can send the message without 
money and receive the answer in his own 
heart. Listen: "And it shall come to 
pass that, before they call, I will answer; 
and while they are yet speaking, I will 
hear" (Isa. 65:24). 

Stated Times to Pray. — I used to 
wonder how that man Daniel could be so 
courageous. He was not afraid of the 
wicked rulers. He could defy decrees, 
and, with his windows open towards Je- 
rusalem, pray to his God. A little child 
was reading about this man and she got 
a little mixed in her pronunciation. Where 
it says he had a spirit in him she read: 
"He had a spine in him." She did not 
miss it far. He had a backbone. This 
is what many do not have. It would not 

103 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

be possible for some people to have spinal 
meningitis; they haven't the thing with 
which to have it. The chiropractor could 
not do business with them. 

One day I read Dan. 6 : 10 and I un- 
derstood. He gave his soul three square 
meals each day. "And he kneeled upon 
his knees three times a day, and prayed, 
and gave thanks before his God." I have 
wondered why David was a man of such 
strong faith and could say: "The Lord 
is my shepherd; I shall not want." One 
day I read the secret; it is recorded in 
Ps. 55:17: " Evening, and morning, and 
at noonday, will I pray, and cry aloud: 
and he shall hear my voice." He fed his 
soul at stated times. He was regular in 
his spiritual diet. We learn from the 
third chapter of the Acts of the Holy 
Spirit of certain disciples going up to the 
temple at the hour of prayer. The man 
who is not regular in his habits will have 
indigestion. The church is full of spir- 
itual dyspeptics. Their trouble is due to 
the fact that they do not feed their spirits 
at regular times. They become grumblers 
and chronic kickers, and stumbling-stones 

104 



PRAYER A NECESSITY 

in the way of sinners. Let us learn to 
give the spirit at least three meals a 
day. 

Here We Renew Our Strength. — "But 
they that wait for Jehovah shall renew 
their strength; they shall mount up with 
wings as eagles; they shall run, and not 
he weary; they shall walk, and not faint' ' 
(Isa. 40:31). 

I was on a train one time when it 
stalled. We became impatient, and some 
of us got out and walked up the track to 
the engine. I asked the engineer why we 
were waiting, and he said: "To get up 
steam.' ' By and by the engine began to 
move and the wheels began to turn, and 
we were soon going at a good speed. 
There come times when the Christian 
finds a high grade to pull, and for a time 
it looks to be impossible. Let him wait 
for Jehovah in prayer, and He will renew 
his strength, and then he can climb the 
grade with ease. 

A minister of wide reputation was an- 
nounced to preach at a certain church 
one day. The people came and waited un- 
til long past the hour, but the minister 

105 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

did not come. A committee was appointed 
to go to his room to find out the cause 
of his delay. They went to the door and 
knocked, but received no response. They 
opened the door and heard some one 
praying, and this is what he was saying: 
i ' Lord, I can not go unless you go with 
me." He was talking to God as a child 
talks to its parent. "God, please go with 
me; I must have your presence and your 
help." They waited. All at once he 
jumped up from his knees and said, "I 
go now, Lord, ' ' and he ran into the pulpit 
and began to preach. Those who saw 
and heard him, say: "His face was radi- 
ant, and never before have we heard a 
man preach as did he." 

Take Little Things to Him in Prayer. 
— Make out your program and then take 
it to God for his endorsement. Do not 
sign your name first and then demand 
that God shall approve of it. Ask him to di- 
rect, and be willing to accept his changes. 
Let this be your prayer: "Cause me to 
hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; 
for in thee do I put my trust; cause me 
to know the way wherein I should walk; 

106 



PRAYER A NECESSITY 

for I lift up my soul unto thee" (Ps. 
143:8). 

" Watch ye therefore, and pray always, 
that ye may be accounted worthy to es- 
cape all these things that shall come to 
pass, and to stand before the Son of 
man" (Matt. 26:41). 

"In everything by prayer and suppli- 
cation with thanksgiving let your requests 
be made known unto God" (Phil. 4:6). 

We can not go to our friends with 
our troubles; they will soon become tired 
of us and will avoid us. When I was in 
deep trouble, a minister said to me: "Do 
not go to your friends with your trouble ; 
they do not care to be bothered with the 
troubles of others." This cut to the quick, 
and I wondered if it could be true that 
humanity is so selfish. I could go to 
Jesus and to my Father and feel that 
they never tired of my coming, and that 
they were willing to listen to all of my 
complaints. Let us learn to take all 
things — the little as well as the big things 
of life — to them. When Job was afflicted 
he could say: "Make me to know my 
transgression and my sin." 
107 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

Do you want to be cleansed from your 
sin? Then breathe this prayer: "Wash 
me thoroughly from mine iniquities, and 
cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with 
hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, 
and I shall be whiter than snow. Create 
in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a 
right spirit within me." 

Should we go to God with our busi- 
ness? We are told that Jabez called on 
the God of Israel, saying: "Oh that thou 
wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my 
coast, and that thine hand might be with 
me, and that thou wouldest keep me from 
evil, that it may not grieve me." God 
granted him that which he requested. 

Pray without Ceasing. — How can we do 
it ? Breathe without ceasing ; how can we do 
it? On one occasion at a great religious 
gathering some one placed this question 
on the table: "What does it mean in the 
seventeenth verse of First Thessalonians 
when it says: 'Pray without ceasing' f" 
The moderator said: "This is a hard 
verse to explain. I will appoint Drs. A, 
B and C to write papers for our next con- 
ference, explaining it." Just then a wo- 

108 



PRAYER A NECESSITY 

man stood up and said: "I am a poor 
servant-girl, but I can explain it now." 
From all parts of the room voices were 
heard: " Explain it, then." She said: 
"When I open my eyes to the light of 
day, I say, 'Lord, I am blind; let the light 
of thy countenance come into this dark 
heart of mine and make me to behold thy 
beauty.' When I begin to dress myself, I 
say, 'Lord, I am spiritually naked; clothe 
me with the robe made white in the blood 
of the Lamb.' When I make the fire in 
the stove, I say, 'Lord, enkindle in this 
cold heart of mine the fire of thy love and 
burn out all of the dross.' When I go 
to the spring to get the water, I say, 
'Lord, give me from the water of life that 
flows out from the throne of God and the 
Lamb, that my thirst may be satisfied.' 
When I prepare the bread for breakfast, 
I say, 'Lord, give me that hidden manna, 
the bread that comes down from heaven, 
that I may be strong and able to do thy 
will.' When I sweep the floors and dust 
the furniture, I say, 'Lord, sweep out 
this heart of mine and remove all the sin 
and iniquity and make it a fit place for 
109 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

thy Holy Spirit, and may he dwell in this 
heart as my abiding Guest and Com- 
forter. ' This is what this verse means to 
me. Everything I see has a spiritual sig- 
nificance, and it suggests a prayer which 
I breathe to my heavenly Father.' ' Then 
some one said: "God has kept these 
things from the wise and given them unto 
the humble and faithful." 



no 



VIII 

PRAYERS ANSWERED 

Text. — "Continue stedfastly in prayer, watching 
therein with thanksgiving; wdthal praying for us also, 
that God may open unto us a door for the word, to 
speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in 
bonds; that I may make it manifest, as I ought to 
speak."— Col. 4:2-4. 

UOR Whom Should We Pray?— Our 

* minister, our brethren, our enemies 
(Matt. 5:44), those who persecute us. 
This is hard to do. I find, in order to 
do this, I must pray first for W. H. Book. 
No man can long count one an enemy 
after he has earnestly and sincerely prayed 
for him. We are exhorted to pray for 
all men. Hear Paul's instructions to the 
young evangelist: "I exhort, therefore, 
first of all, that supplications, prayers, 
intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for 
all men ; for kings and all that are in high 
place; that we may lead a tranquil and 
quiet life in all godliness and gravity' ' 
8 in 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

(1 Tim. 2:1, 2). Have you ever prayed 
for our President! Of course you have 
if he happened to be the one that repre- 
sents your party. If we would pray as 
much as we criticize, we would have a 
better Government. Have you ever 
prayed for the Congress of the United 
States ? The Lord knows they need to be 
prayed for! Have you ever prayed for 
your mayor? We are commanded to pray 
for all of our rulers. 

Our Prayers Must Be in Faith. — 
"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask 
in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" 
(Matt. 21:22). "All things whatsoever 
ye pray and ask for, believe that ye 
receive them, and ye shall have them" 
(Mark 11:24). One morning a father 
was starting to his office, when his little 
girl said: "Father, bring me some paints 
when you come home to dinner." When 
he came, the little child went to meet him, 
and threw her arms around his neck and 
kissed him, and said: "I thank you for 
the paints." She had faith enough to 
thank him before seeing the paints. This 
is what is meant in this Scripture. When 

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PRAYERS ANSWERED 



we ask, believe we have the thing de- 
sired. 

When at my home in Virginia, I saw 
an old friend of mine — a colored minister. 
I told him when I went home I 'd send him 
my preacher 's suit, and he said : ' ' Thanks ! 
Fse got it now." 

James tells us to ask in faith, and he 
declares that the one who doubts has no 
promise. An evangelist accompanied the 
pastor to a home in which was a sick 
child. The pastor prayed for the recov- 
ery of the child, and when they started 
home he said to the evangelist: "That 
child will be dead before night. " " Then, ' ' 
asked the evangelist, "why did you ask 
God to spare its life? That which is with- 
out faith is sin." "And without faith it is 
impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; 
for he that cometh to God must believe 
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of 
them that seek after 11™." Many believe 
the first proposition, that God is, but they 
do not believe the other proposition, that 
he is a rewarder of them who diligently 
seek after him. We sing the song, 
"Standing on the Promises," and we 

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SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

make loud professions of our faith in 
God, and then are afraid to get out on 
these promises. We are like the man who 
was crossing the Mississippi River on the 
ice. He got out a few yards and he heard 
a crash; he fell to his knees and drew a 
deep breath with the thought: "I'm gone 
now." He soon discovered that the ice 
had not broken. He crawled along on the 
ice with great caution, and, when near the 
shore, he heard a tremendous crash, and 
he lifted his arms and sighed, and said, 
"Surely I'm gone this time;" but he was 
not. He looked behind him, and to his 
chagrin he saw a four-horse wagon loaded 
with pig-iron coming after him, and he 
had thought that he, a poor little, insig- 
nificant man, would break through. This 
is the way we get out on God's promises: 
we are afraid to take God at his word — 
to put him to the test. 

We Must Confess Our Sins. — "And 
David said unto God, I have sinned 
greatly, because I have done this thing; 
but now I beseech thee, do away with 
the iniquity of thy servant; for I have 
done very foolishly." Job said: "Behold, 

114 



PRAYERS ANSWERED 



I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I 
will lay mine hand upon my mouth. ,, 
Isaiah said: "Then said I, Woe is me, for 
I am undone; because I am a man of un- 
clean lips; and I dwell in the midst of a 
people of unclean lips; for my eyes have 
seen the King of hosts/ ' 

We Must Be Sincere. — "But if from 
thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, 
thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with 
thy heart and with all thy soul." "The 
Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon 
him, to all that call upon him in truth' ' 
(Ps. 145:18). "And ye shall seek me, 
and find me, when ye shall search for me 
with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13). "If 
my people, which are called by my name, 
shall humble themselves, and pray, and 
seek my face, and turn from their wicked 
ways; then will I hear from heaven, and 
forgive their sins, and will heal their 
land" (2 Chron. 7:14). The confession 
carries with it the forsaking of our sins. 
It is the fervent prayer of the right- 
eous man that has power with God. Such 
a prayer avails much. (See Jas. 5:16- 
18.) 

115 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

Loud sounds — physical demonstrations 
— are not always evidences of praying. 
Hosea says: "They have not cried unto 
me with their heart, but they howl upon 
their beds." 

We Must Have Vital Connection. — 
Many times we fail to get an answer and 
wonder why it is. We try to pray, and 
the words go up to the ceiling and fall 
back on us bruised and lifeless. Why is 
this? We are not connected with the 
central station. I went into a store one 
day and saw a telephone box on the wall. 
I took down the receiver and called the 
name, but no response. I continued to 
ring and yell. After I had done this 
several times, the merchant asked: "Did 
you ring that telephone ?" I told him I 
had. He said: "That is only a sample, 
and it is not connected!" How many 
times have we prayed when we were only 
using a sample, and without any connec- 
tion with a live wire? "But your iniqui- 
ties have separated between you and your 
God, and your sins have hid his face 
from you, so that he will not hear" (Isa. 
£9:2). The Psalmist says: "If I regard 

116 



PRAYERS ANSWERED 



iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not 
hear." 

What are some of the sins? " Whoso 
stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, 
he also shall cry himself, but shall not be 
heard/ ' "And when ye stand praying, 
forgive, if ye have aught against any; 
that your Father also which is in heaven 
may forgive your trespasses. But if ye 
do not forgive, neither will your Father 
which is in heaven forgive your tres- 
passes.' ' Matthew makes it still stronger. 
He says: "If therefore thou art offering 
thy gift at the altar, and there remem- 
berest that thy brother hath aught against 
thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, 
and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy 
brother, and then come and offer thy 
gift. ' ' No man can get right with God 
who will not do all he can to make him- 
self right with his fellow-man. 

We must ask with the thought of obe- 
dience. John tells us that "whatsoever 
we ask, we receive of him, because we 
keep his commandments, and do those 
things which are pleasing in his sight' ' 
(1 John 3:22). Disobedience breaks the 

117 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

connection and puts the local station out 
of commission. 

Selfishness will put the line in trouble. 
James tells us that we ask and receive 
not, because we ask amiss that we may 
consume it upon our lusts. 

We Must Have the Combination. — I 
was one time the minister of a church 
when it was perfectly natural to get be- 
hind with the pastor's salary. It was 
necessary to have a running account at 
the store, and it often ran with great 
speed and for a long time. One day I 
went to the proprietor and asked for my 
statement. He went to his big iron safe 
and tried to open it. After much exertion 
on his part he said: "I have lost the com- 
bination and can not get this door open, 
and your statement is locked up in this 
safe." It looked to me that it would be 
easy to open the door, and I asked him 
to let me try. He did and I went at it. 
I soon had more perspiration than I had 
inspiration. I gave it up in disgust. As 
I came back that afternoon, he came to 
the door and smiled, and said: "I've got 
the combination now, and you can have 

118 



PRAYERS ANSWERED 



your statement. ' ' He went to the safe 
and turned the big wheel to a certain 
figure, and then turned the little wheel to 
another point. I heard something click, 
and he pulled the door open and reached 
in and brought out the statement. I de- 
clare unto you that I would not be afraid 
to be turned loose on the Pacific coast 
without a penny in my pocket if I had in 
my possession my check-book on the bank 
of heaven — my New Testament. The 
checks are already signed, and the space 
is there for me to make known my needs. 
Listen: "No good thing will he withhold 
from them that walk uprightly." Mark 
you, the emphasis is on "good." He does 
withhold from me the things that are bad, 
and for this I am thankful. Many times 
we ask for the things that would do us 
harm if God were to give them. My little 
son comes to me and begs me to give him 
a Texas pony and a cart. I give him a 
billy-goat and a wagon. This is just what 
he wanted. It satisfies, and he is happy. 
Had I given him the pony, it might have 
been his death. We go to our heavenly 
Father and ask for things, and he knows 

119 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

just what we need and he gives it. Many 
times I have asked for things and have 
not received them, because I had lost the 
combination. They are locked up in the 
Father's safe, and to have them I must 
be able to open the safe. What is this 
combination? John 15: 7, 8: "If ye abide 
in me — [big wheel — turn it], and my 
words abide in you — [little wheel — turn 
it] ; " — click, reach in and help yourself. 

The strongest evidence of a living 
Christianity is the experience in your own 
heart of answered prayers. I am just as 
certain that my Father hears and answers 
the prayers of his children as I am that 
I live. I could give a number of examples 
out of my own personal experiences. 

Dr. A. J. Gordon tells of two experi- 
ences that I shall relate: "Opening my 
mail one morning, I found a most earnest 
appeal from a poor student in whom I 
had for some time taken much interest. 
He detailed the circumstances by which, 
in spite of his utmost endeavors, he had 
been brought into rare straits, debts for 
board and books severely pressing him 
until he was utterly discouraged. He was 

120 



PRAYERS ANSWERED 



extremely reluctant to ask aid, and only 
wrote now, tie said, to tell me how earnest- 
ly he had besought the Lord for deliver- 
ance and to request my prayers in his 
behalf. It was only a little sum that he 
needed to help him out of his dilemma — 
fifty dollars — but it was a great sum for 
a poor student, and he was now asking 
the Lord to send it. Having read his 
letter with real sympathy, I continued 
opening my mail, when, to my surprise, 
the next letter whose seal I broke was 
from a wealthy gentleman, expressing 
great thankfulness for a service I had 
rendered him a few days before, and in- 
closing a check of fifty dollars, which he 
begged me to accept as a token of his 
gratitude. Instantly I perceived that the 
poor student's prayers were heard — that 
the second letter contained the answer to 
the first; and, endorsing the check, I sent 
it by return mail to the young man, with 
my congratulations for his speedy de- 
liverance. ' ' 

He tells another experience of a young 
student that wrote to him for help. This 
student told how he had asked God for 
121 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

help and how discouraged he was. Dr. 
Gordon determined to telegraph this poor 
student that he would be responsible for 
one-half of the amount needed, provided 
he could get the other half. He was at 
the office writing the dispatch, but had 
forgotten the street number. He had also 
forgotten the amount the young man 
wanted. He started to his house to get 
the letter, and stopped in at a store to 
pay a bill. When he asked for the amount, 
he found that some friend had already 
paid the bill. It was thirty-seven dollars 
and fifty cents. He says: "When I read 
the letter, I found the amount wanted was 
just exactly the amount of that debt. It 
was not my prayers that were answered, 
for I had not been moved especially for 
these young men. It was not my money; 
the Lord provided the exact funds in each 
instance; but I have told you literally 
what happened." 

Let me tell you of a wonderful insur- 
ance policy. A man in England was en- 
gaged in Christian work, and early in life 
was stricken with a fatal disease. When 
the physician told him he must soon die, 

122 



PRAYERS ANSWERED 



lie became frantic, and, tossing himself 
from one side to the other of his bed, 
he cried: "Lord, I can not die. I have 
made no provision for my family. I 
can nor die until you give me a promise 
that you will take care of my wife and 
my children. ' ' He had given his time and 
his money to the cause and he was dying 
in poverty — as the world would count 
poverty. His eyes soon fell upon this 
insurance policy — have you seen it? Let 
me read it to you: "Leave thy fatherless 
children, I will preserve them alive; and 
let thy widows trust in me" (Jer. 49: 11). 
This beats bank stocks and all earthly 
wealth. It can not fail, and God will 
honor his promise to the letter. The man 
became calm, and, with a smile, said: "I 
die happy.' ' He then called his family 
and revealed to them the policy. Within 
a few days after he went home the people 
gave of their wealth and this family was 
provided for. 

I shall close with this story. I heard 
Moody tell it. He said: "In the days of 
the Civil War I was a clerk in a store in 
Chicago. I was also the superintendent 

123 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

of a Bible school, and one day I was out 
visiting my scholars. I went into a small 
cottage and found a woman weeping. She 
said: 'Mr. Moody, I am so glad you have 
come. We have lived in this little cottage 
for months. I have worked hard to make 
a living. We had hoped that husband 
would soon come back from the war, but 
we have just received word that he was 
killed on the battlefield. What are we to 
do? I am back in my rent, and the land- 
lord has told me that unless my rent is 
paid I must get out, and we have nowhere 
to go. Let me tell you about my little 
girl; she goes to your school. She came 
to me when I was crying, and put her 
arms about me and said: 'Mamma, let us 
ask God to give us a home.' She got 
down on her little knees, and this was her 
prayer: 'Dear Father, my papa is dead, 
my mother is sad, and we have no home; 
won't you give us a home for Jesus' 
sake?' Then she kissed me and said: 
'Don't cry, mother; he will do it, because 
he said he would.' " Mr. Moody said: 
"God sent me to that cottage in answer 
to the prayer of that child. I told the 

124 



PRAYERS ANSWERED 



story, and the people gave the money, 
and we built a home for the widow, and 
when the fire came it was destroyed, but 
the first house to go up after the great 
fire was the widow's cottage." God help 
us to accept his promises and to put them 
to the test. 



125 



IX 

THAT TONGUE OF MINE 

Text. — "If any man thinketh himself to be relig- 
ious, while he bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth 
his heart, this man's religion is vain.'' — Jas. 1: 26. 

HPHIS sermon is a personal one, and is 

* designed to hit close home to all of 

us. It is for you, and not your neighbor. 

A man sent his slave to the meat- 
market and instructed him to bring back 
with him a piece of the best meat in the 
market. The man brought a piece of 
tongue. He told him to go again and 
bring a piece of the worst meat in the 
market. He came this time with another 
piece of tongue. The master said: "How 
can it be the best, and at the same time 
the worst ?" The slave replied: "If it is 
good, it is the best, but if it is bad, it is 
the worst.' ' 

That which gives more trouble in the 
home, in society and in the church than 
anything else, is the tongue. Some wo- 

126 



THAT TONGUE OF MINE 

men can sit in their homes and stab their 
neighbors hundreds of miles away. We 
have been amazed at the power of a gun 
to carry a ball eighty miles — the tongue 
can carry a deadly discharge across the 
continent. 

It is hard to tame. It is a fire, and 
can start a conflagration that will consume 
all of the good will in the community. It 
is a world of iniquity, and defiles the 
whole church. It is a restless evil and 
full of deadly poison. It gets its supplies 
from hell. The members of this hell-bent 
organization are known as the "They Say 
Company." They are an irresponsible 
set and are accountable to no one. They 
are social hyenas, and are not satisfied 
with feeding on the living, but will rob 
the graves and feed on the things that 
have long ago begun to decompose. 

If it were a law to place in quarantine 
all who have this mouth disease, there 
would be but few now at large. They 
carry with them a bundle of personalities 
and persuade you to let them unload. Be- 
ware of the one who comes to you with 
a secret — one who tells you that he is 
9 127 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

going to tell you something, and that yon 
must promise never to tell it to any one. 
You will be a thousand times better off if 
you do not hear it. I am ready to confess 
that I do not believe there is a woman 
on the earth that can keep a secret. Do 
not get excited — I shall go further, and 
state that I do not believe there is a man 
on the earth who can keep a secret. We 
must tell it to some one. I give you a bit 
of experience. I had, in a congregation 
where I was pastor, an old woman — a 
good old soul, but she would talk. She 
would make it a business to hear all of 
the mean things some of my enemies had 
said about me, and she would come to my 
wife and tell her and then tell her not 
to tell any one but me. She kept me in 
a peck of trouble all the time. At last 
I announced from my pulpit that I wanted 
the women who heard mean things about 
me to keep it from us, and that I did 
not appreciate their kindness (?). 

A physician came to me one day and 
told me a secret, and made me promise 
I'd never tell it to any one. My! this 
burden was more than I could carry! 

128 



THAT TONGUE OF MINE 

I'd find myself dreaming about it. I was 
trying to keep a secret! Then I'd talk to 
my wife and say : l i I heard something the 
other day that is simply awful." She 
would get excited and ask: "What is it?" 
Then I'd say: "I can not tell it." At last 
I said a word here and another there and 
left her to guess, and she did, and said: 
i ' 1 know it now. ' ' Then I said : i ' I did not 
say so." I got relief, however. I made 
myself the promise then and there never 
to let any one burden me with a secret 
again. I mean, a lot of slander and gos- 
sip. 

We learn to tattle in childhood. We 
get it often from the parents too. When 
parents gossip in the presence of their 
children they are giving them lessons in 
this devilish art. Children are frank and 
honest and will speak what they hear. 
One day a man came to my home in my 
absence and asked to see me. When I 
came home my wife told me he had been 
there. I knew the man to be a bad man, 
and said: "I do not want to see him." 
He came again, and my little child met 
him at the door and blurted out as soon 

129 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

as he saw him: "My father says he does 
not want to see you." He was learning 
the business. Often church-members turn 
their children away from the church by 
their criticisms of the minister and the 
church. 

The family is disrupted by the tongue. 
Take the example of Miriam, Aaron and 
Moses. The brother and sister had be- 
come offended at Moses because he had 
married an Ethiopian woman. When be- 
hind his back, they said some mean things 
about him. Let every woman and every 
man here who has never said anything 
mean about a brother or a sister stand up. 
God heard what they said. Miriam con- 
tracted the leprosy for this act. It is not 
so fatal to talk to-day; if it were, there 
would not be enough outside the camp to 
look after those inside. 

"Whoso keepeth his mouth and his 
tongue keepeth his soul from troubles" 
(Prov. 21:23). While holding a meeting 
in one of our cities, the minister pointed 
to a woman who was passing, and said: 
"There goes the woman that whipped her 
husband." We were invited out to sup- 

130 



THAT TONGUE OF MINE 

per. When at the table the name of this 
woman was mentioned, and, without think- 
ing, I asked : i ' Is she the one who whipped 
her husband V Mark you, I did not say 
she did — I only asked a question. The 
woman who was entertaining us slipped 
out at the back door and told the woman 
that the evangelist said she whipped her 
husband. When I got to my home in 
Virginia I received a letter from this 
place, and, being anxious to see what 
good thing some one had written me, I 
opened the letter and began to read: "I 
understand that you said I whipped my 
husband. You may have to prove this." 
I could see myself going back to that city 
under the direction of an officer, and I 
fancied I could see great crowds at the 
station ready to see me get off of the 
train. I tried to explain, and I apolo- 
gized, but I could never fix it. I had not 
said she whipped her husband, but I had 
let my mouth go off half-cocked, and it 
got me into a lot of trouble. One ounce 
of keep your mouth shut is worth a whole 
bushel of apology after you have made 
the mistake. 

131 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

We are exhorted not to go up and down 
the earth as a talebearer. A talebearer 
will get you into trouble. How would you 
like to have your degree from the school 

of tattlers, , T.B. ! If all who have 

merited this degree should be made to 
publish it, the world would be better off. 

A talebearer is like the man who 
curses the deaf or puts a stumbling-block 
in the way of the helpless blind. He in- 
jures those who are not present to take 
their part. He is a coward. He is a 
traitor. He is a son of his father, the 
devil. 

"He that goeth about as a talebearer 
revealeth secrets ; but he that is of a faith- 
ful spirit concealeth the matter/ ' Never 
repeat what you have heard until you 
have asked three questions: Is it true? 
Can it do me any good to tell it? Can it 
do the party any good for me to repeat 
it? 

"A whisperer separates chief friends" 
(Prov. 16:28). When Paul wrote to the 
Corinthians he said: "I fear lest by any 
means, when I come, I should find you not 
such as I would, and should myself be 

132 



THAT TONGUE OF MINE 

found of yon as yon would not; lest by 
any means there should be strife, jealousy, 
wraths, factions, backbitings, whisperings, 
swellings, tumults" (2 Cor. 12:20). The 
whisperer is a dangerous character. Did 
you ever attend a gathering when the 
members began to discuss those who had 
not yet arrived, and witnessed them pick 
them to pieces, each new arrival joining 
the group and helping to pick the one who 
was yet to come? Have you seen them 
begin again on the one who left first, and 
so on until all were gone? I have been 
places where I was afraid to leave, and 
remained for my own protection. 

"He that goeth about as a talebearer 
revealeth secrets; therefore company not 
with him that flattereth with his lips' ' 
(Prov. 20:19). 

On one occasion a good woman of my 
congregation came to me with a profound 
secret and wanted my advice. She said: 
"You are the only one that knows this, 
with the exception of my brother.' ' I 
felt highly honored. She had flattered 
me. In a little while another woman 
came to me and told me the story. I 

133 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

never let on. She said: "You know it, 
for yon and I are the only ones who know 
it." Do not get puffed up with the idea 
that you are the only one who knows the 
secret. There are others. If there is 
slander in the congregation or in the com- 
munity, remember that "for lack of wood 
the fire goeth out; and where there is no 
whisperer, contention ceaseth" (Prov. 26: 
20). 

"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and 
anger, and clamor, and railing, be put 
away from you, with all malice: and be 
ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, 
forgiving one another, even as God also in 
Christ forgave you" (Eph. 4:31, 32). 
"Putting away therefore all wickedness, 
and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, 
and all evil speakings" (1 Pet. 2:1). 

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things 
are true, whatsoever things are honorable, 
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever 
things are pure, whatsoever things are 
lovely, whatsoever things are of good re- 
port: if there be any virtue, and if there 
be any praise, think on these things" 
(Phil. 4:8). 

134 



THAT TONGUE OF MINE 

Have you ever heard of Gossip Town, 

On the shores of Falsehood Bay, 
Where old Dame Rumor, with rustling gown, 

Is going the livelong day? 
It isn't far to Gossip Town 

For people who want to go; 
The Idleness train will take you down 

In just an hour or so. 

The Thoughtless road is the popular route, 

And most people go that way; 
But it's steep downgrade; if you don't look out, 

You will land in Falsehood Bay. 
You glide through the valley of Vicious Talk, 

And into the tunnel of Hate; 
Then, crossing the Add-to Bridge, you walk 

Right into the city gate. 

The principal street is called "They Say," 

And "I've Heard" is the public well, 
And the breezes that blow from Falsehood Bay 

Are laden with Don't You Tell. 
In the midst of the town is Tell-Tale Park; 

You are never quite safe while there, 
For its owner is Madam Suspicious Remark, 

"Who lives on the street Don't Care. 

Just back of the park is Slanderers' Row; 

'Twas there that Good Name died, 
Pierced by a shaft from Jealousy's bow, 

In the hands of envious Pride. 
From Gossip Town, Peace long since fled; 

But Trouble and Grief and Woe 
And Sorrow and Care you'll meet instead, 

If ever you chance to go. 

— Harvey M. Barr. 

135 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

When you are discussing a neighbor, 

Or a friend who is far away, 
Or an absent one of the family, 

With the caller of to-day, 
Just speak of their wisdom or kindness, 

'Tis all you should care to recall; 
Pray do not allude to their failings — 

Don't speak of their faults at all. 

When you go to church on Sunday, 

It is not the place to display 
The knowledge you have of another's sin — 

'Tis the holy Lord's Day. 
You should go there only to worship 

The God who created all, 
And not to pick flaws in the sermon — 

Don't speak of the failures at all. 

When a fellow-creature has fallen, 

And society stares with a frown, 
Just stretch out your hand in assistance; 

Don't strike a man when he's down. 
Condemn not; in like provocation 

Perhaps you also might fall, 
And then it would be quite different — 

Don't speak of his faults at all. 

— Baltimore Sun. 



136 



X 

THE HOME 

Text. — "And they went unto their own home. " — 
1 Sain. 2: 20. 

ONE of the best evidences of civiliza- 
tion is the dwelling. Every man 
should strive to own his own home. He 
then becomes interested in the country 
in which he lives, and feels himself a part 
of it. To be able to pay taxes to the 
Government on real estate is an honor. It 
gives to the man a feeling of indepen- 
dence, and he feels that his home is his 
castle and that under its roof he has 
security. 

What It Should Be. — The home should 
be more than a place in which to eat and 
sleep and grunt. It should be a place of 
fellowship. Fountains of love should be 
seen springing up in every direction. 
Words of kindness should be heard on 
every hand. A home must be more than 
four brick walls with elegant rooms filled 

137 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

with fine and costly furniture. It should 
be a place where personalities blend and 
where affection, fidelity and loyal service 
are rendered. No man can be a good 
citizen who is not devoted to his home. 
He should prize it as the most holy and 
most sacred spot on earth. When a na- 
tion loses its love for the home it begins 
to decay. 

There are homes in this country only 
in name. The fathers are strangers to 
their children. They spend their spare 
time at the lodge-rooms, on the streets 
and in the places of amusement. The 
mothers spend their time at the clubs, at 
the card parties, at the social gatherings 
and on the streets. The children are left 
to run at large and are being trained for 
the criminal courts and the prisons. The 
woman is at her best when she is a keeper 
at home. The ambition of some women 
is to enter politics and hold office. Wo- 
man clamors for her rights. She should 
know that in the home she is queen and 
that her home is her kingdom. It is here 
that she has the opportunity to influence 
the national life. The mother of James 

138 



THE HOME 



A. Garfield made it possible for her son 
to become the President of the United 
States. Were you to study the lives of 
the men who have become prominent in 
the worlds history, you would discover 
that their success was made possible by 
consecrated motherhood. 

The Home Should Be Dedicated to 
God. — It should be just as sacred as the 
house of worship. It should be a place 
of worship. The altar should be erected, 
and we should be on intimate terms with 
Jehovah. Like the old patriarch, we 
should exclaim: "As for me and my 
house, we will serve the Lord" (Josh. 
24:15). The apostle exhorts that men 
pray everywhere (1 Tim. 5:17, 18). We 
are to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5: 
17). The curse of God rests upon the 
home that has refused to acknowledge 
him. "Pour out thy fury upon the hea- 
then and upon the families that call not 
upon thy name" (Jer. 10:25). The fam- 
ily is older than the church. The first re- 
ligion was a family religion. The father 
was the priest or minister. Noah builded 
an altar when he came out of the ark, and 

139 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

he worshiped God. Cornelius, the Gen- 
tile centurion, prayed to God with his 
house. "When a man and woman unite 
their hearts and start in life together, 
they should take Christ as their silent 
partner. They should have him always 
as the honored guest in the home. A home 
with Jesus in it is a wealthy home; a 
home with no Jesus is a home of poverty, 
even though it be made out of the finest 
material and furnished with the most 
beautiful and most costly furniture. 

A little child was in the habit of visit- 
ing the child in the home of a rich man. 
It looked at the magnificent paintings and 
the many beautiful toys, and said to its 
little playmate : ' ' Me do not have any nice 
paintings and nice toys in my home, but 
me has Jesus in my home. Does you 
have Jesus in your home 1 P , When the 
child went home the little one in this home 
said to the parents: "Does we have Jesus 
in our home?" I'd rather live in a cabin 
by the side of the road, with bare floors 
and bare walls, and have to sleep in a 
bed of straw, with the consciousness of 
Jesus in my home, than to live in a man- 

140 



THE HOME 



sion with all of the modern comforts and 
no Jesus. 

The Bible Should Have a Prominent 
Place in the Home. — It should not be one 
of these fancy, great big books to be 
placed on the center-table as an ornament, 
and a thing in which to record births and 
divorces — I beg your pardon, we do not 
record them, bnt it should be placed where 
it can be used by all the members of the 
home. At least once a day one of the 
parents should take it down and open its 
pages and read its great truths to the 
children. A Bible school should be or- 
ganized in the home. Israel was com- 
manded to make the Commandments 
known unto their children. "Only take 
heed to thyself, and keep thy soul dili- 
gently, lest thou forget the things which 
thine eyes saw, and lest they depart from 
thy heart all the days of thy life; but 
make them known unto thy children and 
thy children's children; the day that thou 
stoodest before Jehovah thy God in 
Horeb, when Jehovah said unto me, As- 
semble me the people, and I will make 
them hear my words, that they may learn 

141 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

to fear me all the days that they live 
upon the earth, and that they may teach 
their children" (Deut. 4:9, 10). "And 
that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy 
son, and of thy son's son, what things 
I have wrought upon Egypt, and my signs 
which I have done among them; that ye 
may know that I am Jehovah" (Ex. 10: 
2). "Therefore shall ye lay up these my 
words in your heart and in your soul; 
and ye shall bind them for a sign upon 
your hand, and they shall be for frontlets 
between your eyes. And ye shall teach 
them your children, talking of them when 
thou sittest in thy house, and when thou 
walkest by the way, and when thou liest 
down, and when thou risest up. And 
thou shalt write them upon the door-posts 
of thy house, and upon thy gates; that 
your days may be multiplied, and the 
days of your children, in the land which 
Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give 
them, as the days of the heavens above 
the earth" (Deut. 11:18-21). 

The Psalmist tells us that it was ob- 
ligatory upon Israel to instruct the chil- 
dren in the words of Jehovah. (See seven- 
142 



THE HOME 



ty-eighth Psalm.) They were to make the 
words known, that the generations to 
come might know them, even the children 
that should be born. Timothy had known 
the Scriptures from his childhood. He 
had a mother and a grandmother who 
taught them to him. 

There Must Be Law in the Home. — 
We are living in an age when discipline is 
discouraged. If a child is not taught to 
respect law and to render obedience in the 
home, when it becomes grown it will, in 
all probability, become an anarchist. The 
old patriarch said: "For I know him, 
that he will command his children and his 
household after him, and they shall keep 
the way of the Lord, to do justice and 
judgment' > (Gen. 18:19). 

"He that spareth his rod hateth his 
son; but he that loveth him chasteneth 
him betimes' ' (Prov. 13:24). This doc- 
trine would be considered out of date by 
some of the modern psychologists. "Chast- 
en thy son while there is hope, and let 
not thy soul spare for his crying' ' (Prov. 
19:18). "The rod and reproof give wis- 
dom; but a child left to himself bringeth 
10 143 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

his mother to shame. Correct thy son r 
and he shall give delight unto thy soul" 
(Prov. 29:15-17). The wise man exhorts 
us to bring up the child in the way he 
should go. To-day we are bringing them 
up in the way they would go. Often the 
czar in the home is the little chap that 
occupies the high chair, and the rattle is 
his scepter and he permits the family to 
compose his parliament. There is but 
little chance for a child under such influ- 
ences. He is never taught to mind, and 
when he gets older he will speak of the 
father as the "old man," and the mother 
as the "old woman." He will never re- 
spect law. He is destined to be a lawless 
creature. 

The True Home Should Have One 
Law. — The parents should be of one mind. 
When one disagrees and the child finds 
it out, the blunder has been made. There 
will come a time when the final test must 
be made. Often the fatal mistake is 
made at this time. The parents let go 
the reins and the child is permitted to 
have its way, and soon it has gone wild, 
and ruin and disgrace follow. When we 

144 



THE HOME 



see a child en route to the reformatory we 
pity the child and wonder if the fault 
was not with the parents. Take the case 
of David and Absalom. Children should 
be taught to honor the parents as the 
Lord God hath commanded them; that 
their days may be long, and that it may 
go well with them in the land which the 
Lord God giveth unto them. Let us take 
the advice of one who could speak with 
authority: "My son, keep thy father's 
commandment, and forsake not the law 
of thy mother ; bind them continually upon 
thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. 
When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when 
thou sleepest, it shall keep thee ; and when 
thou wakest, it shall talk with thee" 
(Prov. 6:20-22). 

Some day we shall appreciate our 
homes, and we shall remember the words 
that fell from our lips which were spoken 
in anger and which wounded to the red. 
It is sad to think of the day when the 
family is scattered and the voice of chil- 
dren is no more heard, and the old peo- 
ple sit by the open grate through the long 
winter nights and live again the past. 

145 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

The home on earth must be forsaken; 
but we rejoice in the promise of our Lord, 
who is preparing a home for us in which 
there are many mansions, and which shall 
be our eternal home, in which the Master 
shall dwell with us. 

One of the saddest things I ever wit- 
nessed was in Pennsylvania. It was an 
old woman who had followed her son from 
a strange land to America, and with the 
promise that she should live with him. 
He married, and the wife drove the wo- 
man from the home. She could not speak 
the language of her new country and was 
taken to the poorhouse to spend her days. 
She would walk up and down the corri- 
dors of the building, wringing her hands 
and crying. I asked the keeper to tell me 
what was her trouble. He told me that 
she was heartbroken and now crazy, and 
that she was crying because she was a 
homeless one and in a strange land. I 
have often wondered what it will mean to 
be a homeless one in eternity! To go 
into that land unacquainted with the lan- 
guage, and no inheritance! It must be so 
to all who die out of Christ. 

146 



XI 

NOW AND HEREAFTER 

Text. — "Jesus answered and said unto him, What 
I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know here- 
after. . . . Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou 
canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me 
afterwards."— John 13: 7, 36. 

'T'HE apostles did not understand the 
* teachings of the Master. Their 
thoughts took the coloring of things 
material. They were not able to grasp 
the spiritual significance of his words. 
They were blinded by gross materialism. 
Jesus had to use the simplest illustrations 
to make known his mind to them. He 
used the most lucid arguments and held 
before them object-lessons. 

Here and hereafter; Now and . 

Then . They are like two great 

mountain peaks, and they may be named 
Yesterday and To-morrow. The valley of 
Now lies between them, and we are in 
this valley. Yesterday is the background, 
and we can never traverse its roads 

147 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

again. We see the mountain-top of To- 
morrow before us, and we move our feet 
in the direction of it. This valley of Now 
separates us from the seen and the un- 
seen, the knowable and the unknowable, 
the temporal and the spiritual. 

We know but little. The valley that 
separates the seen and the unseen, the 
known and the unknown, is only a step. 
Our dealings must have to do with the 
Now. We eat, but do not understand 
the laws of digestion and assimilation. 
We use the compass, but we can not tell 
why the needle points toward the North 
Pole. We ride upon the waves of the 
sea, but we can not explore all that is 
beneath. We can not tell what fire is 
and why it burns. We know that water 
will quench thirst, but we can not tell 
why it is and what it is. There are but 
few things we know. The religious field 
is full of mysteries. We like to speculate 
— man is an interrogation point — he 
wants to delve into the deep things of 
God. This is all right; he was made to 
think, and to acquire knowledge — he has 
an ambition to find out things. 

148 



NOW AND HEREAFTER 

The great apostle says: " While we 
look not at the things which are seen; for 
the things which are seen are temporal, 
but the things which are not seen are 
eternal." We see the apple fall, but we 
can not seen gravitation. We see the 
car move, but we can not see the electric 
current that makes it move. We see the 
engine and watch the ponderous wheels 
of machinery turn, but we can not see 
the steam that causes them to turn. No 
one has ever seen steam; we have seen 
the vapor. We see the pieces of matter, 
but we can not see cohesion which holds 
them together. We find the coal, the iron, 
the gold and the silver, but we can not get 
hold of and analyze chemical affinity. We 
can handle the grain of wheat, but we 
can see the life within the grain only 
as it is manifested through the material. 
Who can see faith, hope, love and pa- 
tience? 

Man tries to fathom all of these great 
questions. He tries to find out the origin 
of God, but who, by searching, can find 
him out? Many volumes have been writ- 
ten on the origin of sin, and we are just 

149 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

as much in the dark on this question as 
Ave were the day Adam fell. How many 
sermons do you think have been written 
on the origin of the devil? Ministers and 
theologians have preached and written on 
the philosophy of the atonement. Angels 
desired to look into these questions. What 
is man? How can he live forever? "What 
is life? What is death? Where is heav- 
en? What is heaven? 

Eevealed things belong to man, and 
the things not yet revealed belong to God. 
God will reveal them unto us just as fast 
as it is possible for us to comprehend 
them. He has century plants, and again 
he has plants that will not unfold until 
he comes again, when we shall have the 
new heaven and the new earth and when 
we shall get back in the second Adam 
what we lost in the first. 

To-day we can not understand why 
the good woman must suffer while the 
bad woman is blessed. We can not un- 
derstand why the good man must meet 
with misfortune while the bad man 
abounds in wealth. Why is death per- 
mitted to come into the home and fasten 

150 



NOW AND HEREAFTER 

its grip upon the form of my child? 
When I look into its face and see it in 
the throes of death and undergoing ter- 
rible suffering, I find myself asking, 
"Why does God permit it!" I can not 
answer now. It is not given to me to 
know now, but I shall know hereafter. 
Some day I shall understand that all of 
these light afflictions have wrought out 
for me an eternal weight of glory. 

On one occasion a mighty flood was 
witnessed in a certain community, and a 
man awoke to find that his farm had been 
destroyed. He saw the dark side and 
complained. He felt that he was ruined 
financially. Soon after this flood he dis- 
covered a vein of gold which had been 
exposed by the madly rushing waters, 
and it proved to be a fortune. This mis- 
fortune was a blessing in disguise. 

I plant the seed without knowing just 
what it is, but after the flower blooms I 
can know. We are living in the Now and 
must have to do only with the present. 
The old man looks back to the mountain 
peak of Yesterday, and he lives in the 
past; the young man stands in the valley 
151 



SERMONS EOR THE PEOPLE 

and anticipates the blessings to be en- 
joyed in the To-morrow. The mother 
and the father stand by the casket that 
holds the ashes of their little child, and 
sob with broken hearts, but with the vi- 
sion of faith they behold it in the arms 
of Jesus, as it sings a song no man can 
sing, and they live in the hope that some 
day, when Jesus comes back to earth, 
they will see the child and be glorified 
together with it. 

"I know in grief like yours how more than vain 

All comfort to the stricken heart appears; 

And as the bursting cloud must spend its rain, 

So grief its tears. 
I know that when your little darling's form 
Had freed the angel spirit fettered there, 
You could not pierce beyond the breaking storm, 

In your despair. 
You could not see the tender hand that caught 

Your little lamb, to shield him from all harm; 
You missed him from your own; but never thought 

Of Jesus' arm. 
You only knew those precious eyes were dim; 

You only felt those tiny lips were cold ; 
You only clung to what remained of him 

Beneath the mold. 
But, oh, young mother, look! the gate unbars! 

And through the darkness, smiling from the skies, 
Are beaming on you, brighter than those stars, 
Your darling's eyes. 

152 



NOW AND HEREAFTER 

'Tis said that, when the pastures down among 

The Alpine hills have ceased to feed the flocks, 
And they must mount to where the grass is young — 

Far up the rocks — 
The shepherd takes a little lamb at play, 

And lifts him gently to his careful breast, 
And, with its tender bleating, leads the way 

For all the rest; 
That quick the mother follows in the path, 

Then others go, like men whose faith gives hopes, 
And soon the shepherd gathers all he hath — 

Far up the slopes. 
And on those everlasting hills he feeds 

The trusting fold in green that never palls. 
Look up! Oh, see! Your little darling leads — 
The Shepherd calls." 

Paul is now persecuted, but after- 
wards he shall be glorified. Some day 
the light shall break, and we shall know 
as we are known. Now we must look 
through the mirror darkly, but then we 
shall see face to face. Now we must 
know in part, but then we shall know 
even as we are known. 

On one occasion a man stood in the 
presence of a great crowd and gave an 
exhibition of his skill as an artist. He 
painted before them a picture. The 
wheatfields and meadows appeared, and 
then the cattle and the sheep: another 

153 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

stroke of the brush, and the old home- 
stead, then the old well and the bucket, 
and then the father, the mother and the 
children appeared, and when the picture 
was completed he folded his arms and 
waited for applause. They looked upon 
this picture and gave evidence of their 
appreciation by their cheers. Then he 
took the brush and dipped it into a pot 
of paint, and with one stroke he blotted 
out the wheatfields and the meadows; 
with another he blotted out the cattle 
and the sheep, and with another the 
faces of father, mother and children, 
with the old homestead, were gone. He 
then folded his hands and waited for ap- 
plause, but no one gave it. The picture 
was destroyed! He changed the canvas, 
and the people began to applaud, for 
their eyes were feasting upon one of the 
most magnificent paintings eyes had ever 
seen. What they had believed to be de- 
structive strokes were constructive when 
viewed from the right angle. 

God is painting a picture for us, and 
sometimes when trouble, misfortune, sor- 
row and death come to us, we feel that 

154 



NOW AND HEREAFTER 

our picture is ruined, but let us wait to 
see it from his angle when he unfurls it 
in the eternities, and we shall then know 
that all things have worked together for 
our good and that what we one time 
thought to have been destructive was 
constructive, and then we shall under- 
stand and rejoice. Jesus had to go away 
from his disciples — he had to leave this 
world of material things — in order to 
make it possible for his disciples to have 
the Holy Spirit and be fitted to enjoy the 
things to be known and enjoyed in the 
hereafter. 

A child was dying. Its mother stood 
near it. The little thing reached out its 
hand to its mother and said: "Mother, 
please go with me." The mother said: 
"My child, I shall follow, but each of us 
must make the journey alone. I can not 
go with you, but I know One who will go 
with you — it is Jesus. " Each of us must 
go alone, and our loved ones must follow 
after. Jesus will go with us all the way. 



155 



XII 

WHAT WE ARE— WHAT WE SHALL BE 

Text. — "Behold, what manner of love the Father 
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the 
sons of God; therefore the world kcuoweth us not, be- 
cause it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons 
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: 
but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be 
like him ; for we shall see him as he is. ' ' — 1 John 3 : 1, 2. 

PONS of God. — How did we become 
^ sons of God? By regeneration and 
by adoption. By his own will God begat 
us through the word of truth (Jas. 1: 18). 
We are the children of the Holy Spirit. 
We are the sons of God, not because we 
have evolved into spiritual beings, but 
because we have received the engrafted 
Word of truth into our hearts. This 
Word has the germ of divine life. We 
have been born from above, and are there- 
fore miniature Christs, human saviors. 
Having received this Word of life 
into our hearts, we have been made par- 

156 



WHAT WE ARE AND SHALL BE 

takers of the divine nature. Peter 
throws light on the subject when he says: 
11 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle 
of Jesus Christ, to them that have ob- 
tained like precious faith with us through 
the righteousness of God and our Saviour 
Jesus Christ: grace and peace be multi- 
plied unto you through the knowledge 
of God, and of Jesus our Lord, accord- 
ing as his divine power hath given unto 
us all things that pertain unto life and 
godliness, through the knowledge of him 
that hath called us to glory and virtue; 
whereby are given unto us exceeding 
great and precious promises: that by 
these ye might be partakers of the divine 
nature, having escaped the corruption 
that is in the world through lust" (2 
Pet. 1:1-4). 

We can not circumscribe or make 
bounds for the kingdom of heaven. It 
is not something that was established in 
Jerusalem and for a select few. It is 
something established within the heart 
of the individual. Jesus startled his dis- 
ciples by telling them that the kingdom 
of heaven was within them. Paul tells 

157 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

us that "the kingdom of God is not eat- 
ing and drinking, but righteousness and 
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." And 
again he says: "Whereof I was made a 
minister, according to the dispensation 
of God which was given me to you- ward, 
to fulfil the word of God, even the mys- 
tery which hath been hid for ages and 
generations: but now hath it been mani- 
fested to his saints, to whom God was 
pleased to make known what is the 
riches of the glory of this mystery 
among the Gentiles, which is Christ 
in you, the hope of glory: whom we 
proclaim, admonishing every man and 
teaching every man in all wisdom, that 
we may present every man perfect in 
Christ" (Col. 1:25-28). 

We reflect outwardly what we are in- 
wardly. Three men were standing on 
Pike's Peak. One said: "If we had the 
implements of war, we could make a 
great fort here and it would be impossi- 
ble for the enemy to take it." One said: 
"If I had a pick and shovel and some 
dynamite, I could go into the earth and 
find gold and silver." The other said: 

158 



WHAT WE ARE AND SHALL BE 

"If I had some paint and a canvas and 
a brush, I could paint a beautiful pic- 
ture." One man was thinking of war 
and blood, and he had to express it in 
his words. One was thinking of money 
— gold and silver and profit and loss — 
and this is all he could see. The other 
was an artist, and he could see nothing 
in the surroundings but beauty and 
grandeur. The man who worships his 
farm will talk corn, wheat, hogs and 
cattle; the one who lives for pleasure 
will talk the dialect of the pleasure-seek- 
ing world. 

Man will put into words the thoughts 
that are in his heart. Show me a man 
that never talks about his wife and his 
children, and I will show you a man 
that does not love his family. The man 
or woman that never talks about the 
kingdom of heaven is not interested in 
spiritual things. You can discover a 
man's god by hearing him talk. Do not 
tell me your life — let me hear your con- 
versation and I can tell it. Out of the 
abundance of the heart the mouth will 
speak. Children will speak the language 
u 159 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

of the parent. The sons of God will 
speak the language of heaven. God is 
our Father. The Holy Spirit is our 
abiding Guest and Comforter, and Jesus 
Christ is our Elder Brother. If we are 
the sons of God, we will speak of the 
things that have to do with the divine 
relationships. 

Sons of God now, but then! We can 
not comprehend it; we can not express 
it. We can not comprehend man as he 
is. The ancients had a motto: "Man, 
know thyself." The Psalmist was made 
to exclaim: "What is man that thou art 
mindful of him?" He was made but 
little lower than God. What does the 
child know of its own origin? What are 
its thoughts of what it shall be when it 
becomes a man? How its imagination 
plays! We are now the children of God 
— we are undeveloped and incapable of 
comprehending all we are capable of be- 
coming some day. Take the painter of 
poor attainments and let him stand be- 
fore some of the great paintings, and he 
will be unable to comprehend all that has 
been put on canvas. Let a mechanic who 

160 



WHAT WE ARE AND SHALL BE 

is learning his trade walk through the 
Congressional Library building, and he 
will be impressed with the fact that he 
can give a lifetime to the study of this 
wonderful building, and then there will 
be much he has never grasped. 

Our capacity to know and to love 
must be given a chance to expand. My 
dog knows me, but it does not know me 
as my child knows me. It knows me as 
the one that feeds it and pets it, but if 
I were to die it would not grieve. My 
child knows me in a higher sense than 
does my dog, and if I were to die it 
would weep and for a time grieve; but 
it would soon forget me. It could not 
fully understand what it had lost. I 
have stood beside the casket that held 
all that was mortal of a loving, sym- 
pathetic mother, and the little child 
would play and laugh while I tried to 
speak words of comfort to those who 
sorrowed. It did not comprehend all — 
it could not know and love like the chil- 
dren of mature age. There are degrees 
of love. My child, when he becomes a 
man, will love me with a deeper and a 

161 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

more comprehensive love then it is pos- 
sible for him to have now. 

Our conception of God must change 
and grow as we better understand him. 
When I was a child I thought of God 
as being far away, a great man sitting 
upon a throne and looking down upon 
the world. I do not have this concep- 
tion of him now. I think of him as be- 
ing a living Personality that fills the 
whole universe, and that he is a loving 
Father who is near me and within me, 
providing for and helping me to live the 
life modeled after the life of his Son. 

(( wonderful story of deathless love! 
Each child is dear to that heart above. 
He figttits for me when I can not right; 
He comforts me in <the gloom of night; 
He lifts the burden, for He is strong; 
He stills the sign and awakes the song; 
The sorrow that bows me down He bears, 
And loves and pardons because He cares." 

"Then, speak to Him, thou, for He hears, 
And spirit with spirit can meet; 
Closer is He than breathing, 

And nearer than hands and feet." 

The soul must be trained to appre- 
ciate heaven. Heaven is being prepared 

162 



WHAT WE ARE AND SHALL BE 

for the children of God. If unconverted, 
unreg'enerated, undeveloped spirits should 
be permitted to enter, they could no more 
appreciate and enjoy it than could an 
infant appreciate and enjoy the paint- 
ings in an art gallery. 

The kingdom is like unto a mustard 
seed — it has in it the power of expan- 
sion and development. Knowledge is ex- 
perience, and no soul can be wise in spir- 
itual things that has not had an experi- 
mental religion. One man stands and 
views the Acropolis, and he sees only 
ruins; another stands and views it, and 
he sees rising in the moonlight the 
Parthenon. I like to think of heaven, 
and I find myself speculating as to 
just what it shall be. Southey said: 
"It is fellowship with Shakespeare, 
Dante, Chaucer and other great souls.' ' 
John Foster said: 'It will be the place 
where all mysteries will be explained.' ' 
Lightfoot said: "It will be a place where 
all evil will have been banished and only 
love and purity will exist.' f My concep- 
tion is that it will embrace all of these 
definitions and more. Yes, we shall come 

163 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

into the presence of the just spirits made 
perfect — the old patriarchs, the apos- 
tles, the martyrs — all of the redeemed of 
every age and of every clime; and we 
shall sit in the presence of the great 
spirits of that new world, and listen to 
them as they tell of the wonderful things 
which are now incomprehensible, and we 
shall be clothed in the righteousness of 
the saints, with all sin destroyed, and we 
shall be like unto the Son of God him- 
self. It will be a place where the spirit 
shall expand and grow in knowledge, and 
a place of activity. 

"When earth's last picture ia painted, 

And the tubes are twisted and dried; 
When the oldest colors have faded, 

And the youngest critic has died — 
We shall rest — and, faith, we shall need it — 

Lie down for an aeon or two, 
Till the Master of all good workmen 

Snail set us to work anew. 

"And those that are good shall be happy; 
They shall sit in a golden chair; 
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas 

With brushes of comet's hair; 
They shall find real saints to draw from — 

Magdalene, Peter and Paul; 
They shall work for an age at a sitting, 
And never get tired at all. 
164 






WHAT WE ARE AND SHALL BE 

"And only the Master Shall praise ua, 

And only the Master shall blame; 
And no one shall work for money, 

And no one shall work for fame; 
But each for tlhe joy of the working, 

And each in his separate star, 
Shall draw the thing as he sees it 

For the God of things as they are." 

This is Paul's picture: "For ye have 
received not the spirit of bondage again 
to fear; but ye have received the Spirit 
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, 
Father. The Spirit himself beareth 
witness with our spirit, that we are the 
children of God; and if children, then 
heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with 
Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, 
that we may be also glorified together. 
For I reckon that the sufferings of this 
present time are not worthy to be com- 
pared with the glory which shall be re- 
vealed in us. Wherefore we faint not; 
but though our outward man is decaying, 
yet our inward man is renewed day by 
day. For our light affliction, which is for 
the moment, worketh for us more and 
more exceedingly an eternal weight of 
glory; while we look not at the things 

165 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

which are seen, but at the things which 
are not seen: for the things which are 
seen are temporal; but the things which 
are not seen are eternal." 

Let us look upon John's picture: 
1 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with 
men, and he will dwell with them, and 
they shall be his people, and God him- 
self shall be with them, and be their 
God. And God shall wipe away all tears 
from their eyes; and there shall be no 
more death, neither sorrow, nor pain: 
for the former things are passed away." 

The Psalmist reaches the climax when 
he says: "As for me, I will behold thy 
face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied 
when I awake with thy likeness." Sin- 
ner, we beg you accept sonship in this 
royal family. 



166 



XIII 

WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

Text. — "And as it is appointed unto men once to 
die, but after this the judgment. ' ' — Heb. 9 : 27. 

WHEN just a young man the writer 
stood in the presence of deep sor- 
row. A young father had heard the call. 
His body lay in the casket in the cold 
embrace of death. The little daughter, 
clinging to the skirts of a broken-hearted 
mother, cried: "Let me kiss him too." 
I found myself asking: "Why all of this 
sorrow? What is the cause of death V 9 
The answer came: "By the transgres- 
sion of the law sin entered the world, 
and death is the result of sin. ,, 

When the minister of a church in 
Virginia, one of the elders invited me 
to go with him to the cemetery — the city 
of the dead. Without thinking, I told 
him I had no interest in that place, and 
did not care to go. I noticed tears well- 

167 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

ing up in his eyes and running down his 
cheeks, when he replied that he did have 
an interest there. I saw my mistake. 
Poor fellow! it had been but a short time 
since he had taken all that remained 
visible of his child and his devoted com- 
panion, and in that sacred enclosure he 
had placed it beneath the sod! 

Sooner or later all of us will have 
an interest in this city. At this very 
moment many of us have a desire to 
steal away from the busy scenes of life 
and spend hours among the marble slabs. 
And yet, our loved ones are not there. 

The grave holds only that which is 
mortal. 

" There is a stream whose narrow tide 
The known and unknown worlds divide, 

Where all must go; 
Its waveless waters, dark and deep, 
'Mid sullen silence, downward sweep 

With moanless flow. 

"I saw where, at that dreary flood, 
A smiling infant prattling stood, 

Whose hour was come. 
Untaught of ill, it neared the tide, 
Sank as to cradled rest, and died, 

Like going home. 

168 



WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

"Followed with languid eye anon, 
A youth diseased and pale and wan; 

And there alone 
He gazed upon the leaden stream, 
And feared to plunge — I heard a scream, 

And lie was gone. 

"And then a form in manhood's strength 
Came bustling on, till there at length 

He saw life's bound. 
He shrank, and raised the bitter prayer 
Too late — his shriek of wild despair 

The waters drowned. 

"Next stood, upon that surgeless shore, 
A being bowed with many a score 

Of toilsome years. 
Earth-bound and sad, 'he left the bank, 
Back turned his dimming eye, and sank, 

Ah! full of fears. 

"How bitter must thy waters be, 

Death! How hard a thing, ah, me! 

It is to die ! 

1 mused — when to that stream again 
Another child of mortal man 

With smiles drew nigh. 

" ' 'Tis the last pang,' he calmly said; 
'To me, O Death! thou hast no dread; 
Saviour, I come! 
Spread but thine arms on yonder shore — 
I see! Ye waters, bear me o'er; 
There is my home.' " 

Man is a triune being. He is com- 
posed of body, soul and spirit. "And 
169 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

the very God of peace sanctify you whol- 
ly; and I pray God your spirit and soul 
and body be preserved blameless at the 
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 
Thess. 5:23). 

God breathed into man the breath of 
lives and he became a living soul. He pos- 
sesses chemical life, vegetable life, animal 
life and spiritual life. Like the temple, 
he has the outer court — his body — which 
was made first, and of the earth, and is 
therefore earthy; the holy place — the soul 
— which is the life, the connecting link 
between the body and the spirit; and the 
most holy place — the spirit — which is the 
part that thinks, loves, chooses and lives 
on forever. 

The body which is made out of the 
earth is the house in which the spirit 
lives. The spirit came from God (for we 
are also his offspring) ; the soul which is 
physical life binds body and spirit to- 
gether. 

Death is separation. Physical death 
is the separation of the spirit from the 
body — the opening of the door and the 
going out of the occupant. "For it is 

170 



WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

soon cut off, and we fly away" (Ps. 90: 
10). Notice that it is we that fly away. 

"Who knoweth the spirit of man that 
goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast 
that goeth downward to the earth! . . . 
Then shall the dust return to the earth 
as it was : and the spirit shall return unto 
God who gave it" (Eccl. 3:21; 12:7). 

The spiritual death was the separation 
of man from God when he transgressed 
the law in the Garden of Eden; and the 
second death spoken of in the Word will 
be man's final separation from God. Life 
is union or fellowship with God. Adam 
brought death, and Christ, the second 
Adam, the Lord of glory, brought life (1 
John 1 ; John 2 : 25, 26 ; 14 : 6) . Disobedi- 
ence separates me from God; obedience 
unites me with God. 

Man does not possess a spirit; he is 
a spirit, and possesses a body. You do 
not read anything in the Bible about an 
immortal soul; neither do you read of a 
mortal soul. Mortality and immortality 
have to do with the body and not with the 
spirit. The body is mortal because of 
Adam's sin; and it will get its immor- 

171 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

tality in the resurrection through Christ. 
Christ is the only one who has immor- 
tality. 

Read 1 Tim. 6:15, 16; Rom. 8:23; 1 
Cor. 15:21, 25, 42, 58. 

"Let not sin therefore reign in your 
mortal body" (Rom. 6:12). "But if the 
Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from 
the dead dwell in you, he that raised up 
Christ from the dead shall also quicken 
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that 
dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:11). 

"For this corruptible must put on in- 
corruption, and this mortal must put on 
immortality" (1 Cor. 15:53). The body, 
which is mortal, sleeps in the dust of the 
earth; but the spirit, which emanated 
from God, must live on in a conscious state 
somewhere. It must either exist in God's 
presence or in the presence of the devil. 
But some one is ready to ask: "Can the 
spirit exist apart from the body?" Evi- 
dently Paul thought so when he said: "I 
knew a man in Christ above fourteen 
years ago, (whether in the body I cannot 
tell: or whether out of the body I can not 
tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught 

172 



WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

up to the third heaven. And I knew such 
a man, (whether in the body, or out of 
the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth;) 
how that he was caught up into paradise, 
and heard unspeakable words, which it is 
not lawful for any man to utter" (2 Cor, 
12:2-4). 

The writer believes that this man was 
Paul and that he had reference to the 
time when he was stoned and left for 
dead at Lystra. He speaks of the dual 
man in 2 Cor. 4:16. "For which cause 
we faint not ; but though our outward man 
perish, yet the inward man is renewed 
day by day." Let us not forget that the 
real man is the spirit, and that the body 
is the house in which the man lives, while 
sojourning in this world. If the man so 
desires, he can give his house to destruc- 
tion. (See 1 Cor. 13:3.) 

Can the man live in a conscious state 
when out of this house? Moses and 
Elijah were evidently conscious when on 
the Mount of Transfiguration, and surely 
they were not in those mortal bodies they 
possessed when on earth. (See Matt. 17.) 

When Christ spake of Abraham, Isaac 

173 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

and Jacob, who had long ago departed this 
life, he spake of them as being alive and 
conscious. (See Matt. 22:23-33.) 

Paul evidently believed this doctrine 
when he said: "For we know that if our 
earthly house of this tabernacle were dis- 
solved, we have a building of God, an 
house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly 
desiring to be clothed upon with our house 
which is from heaven; if so that being 
clothed we shall not be found naked. For 
we that are in this tabernacle do groan, 
being burdened: not for that we would be 
unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality 
might be swallowed up of life. Now he 
that hath wrought us for the selfsame 
thing is God, who also hath given unto us 
the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we 
are always confident, knowing that, whilst 
we are at home in the body, we are ab- 
sent from the Lord: (for we walk by 
faith, not by sight:) we are confident, I 
say, and willing rather to be absent from 
the body, and to be present with the Lord. 
Wherefore we labor, that, whether pres- 
ent or absent, we may be accepted of him. 

174 



WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

For we must all appear before the judg- 
ment seat of Christ; that every one may 
receive the things done in his body, ac- 
cording to that he hath done, whether it 
be good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:1-11). 

Peter tells us that Christ preached to 
the spirits in prison — those who were 
dead — during the three days he was in 
the unseen world (1 Pet. 3:17-21; 4:6). 

Now, if Christ preached, he must have 
been conscious, and those to whom he 
preached must have been conscious also, 
or the preaching could not have done them 
much good. Let us take the Word just as 
it reads and not try to explain it away. 

When the spirit leaves the body it does 
not cease to live. It is even more alive. 
Let me illustrate it in this way: In my 
native county in old Virginia a beautiful 
spring bursts out from the mountain-side ; 
its clear, sparkling, limpid waters mean- 
der down the valley, percolating through 
the rocks, laughing and singing as it 
widens and deepens in its course to the 
great ocean. Abruptly this beautiful 
stream sinks into the earth; it disappears 
from our vision; but it is not lost. It is 
12 175 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

moving on underground; and, after 
awhile, we see it as it bursts out into New 
River, where it unites its music with the 
millions of little streams with which it 
is now having fellowship. 

This represents the life of the Chris- 
tian. At first it makes its appearance in 
the form of the little child; it grows and 
deepens in experience maybe for three- 
score years and ten, when it abruptly dis- 
appears from our vision, and there in the 
unseen world it moves on and on; until 
the judgment, when we shall see what we 
thought had been lost is now visible in the 
great ocean of eternity, having fellowship 
with that innumerable company, the 
blood- washed throng who have made their 
robes white in the blood of the Lamb. 

11 Think of— 

Stepping on shore, and finding it paradise! 

Of taking hold of a hand, and finding it Christ's 

hand; 
Of breathing a new air, and finding it celestial air; 
Of feeling invigorated, and finding it spiritual 

strength ; 
Of passing from storm and tempest to an unbroken 

calm; 
Of waking up, and finding it in the presence of 

Jesus. ' ' 

176 



WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

"Though I stoop 
Into a dark, tremendous 6ea of cloud, 
It is but for a time. I press God's lamp 
Close to my heart; its splendor, soon or late, 
Wall pierce the gloom; I shall emerge somewhere. ' ' 

Does the spirit go to its final place of 
reward at death? We think not. All go 
to the same place, but are in different 
states. All are conscious of their doom 
— and happy or miserable, as the case may 
be — and are awaiting their final reward. 
Let us illustrate: A and B are in prison, 
charged with murder. A is innocent and 
knows he can establish his innocence. He 
longs for the court to convene, when he 
shall get his liberty. B is guilty and 
knows his guilt will be proved. He is 
miserable and dreads for the court to con- 
vene. It means his condemnation. Both 
are in the same place, but are separated 
by a hall- way; they can see, and talk to 
each other; and, while they are under the 
same roof and within the same walls, they 
are separated. This is illustrated in the 
sixteenth chapter of Luke. The rich man 
and Lazarus are in the unseen world — 
Hades; but they are in different states; 

177 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

a great gulf separates them. They can 
talk to each other and see each other ; but 
the gulf is fixed and they can not cross 
it. One is happy and the other is in tor- 
ment. Each knows what the verdict is to 
be. 

In the twenty-eighth chapter of First 
Samuel we have an account of the witch, 
and Samuel being brought up. Samuel 
said: "Why hast thou disquieted me, to 
bring me up? . . . And to-morrow shalt 
thou and thy sons be with me." 

Now, we do not believe that Samuel, 
the prophet, the man after God's own 
heart, went to hell — the place of the wicked. 
Neither do we believe that Saul, the 
wicked king, the man who was so vile 
that God would have nothing to do with 
him, and his wicked sons, who were in 
league with the devil, went to heaven. 
But we learn from Scripture that they 
are to be together. Where? In Hades — 
the unseen world, there to remain till the 
day of judgment. Jesus says: "Marvel 
not at this: for the hour is coming, in 
which all that are in the graves shall hear 
his voice and shall come forth; they that 

178 



WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

have done good, unto the resurrection of 
life; and they that have done evil, unto 
the resurrection of condemnation ' ' (John 
5:28, 29). 

Daniel says: "And at that time shall 
Michael stand up, the great prince which 
standeth for the children of thy people; 
and there shall be a time of trouble, such 
as never was since there was a nation 
even to that same time; and at that time 
thy people shall be delivered, every one 
that shall be found written in the book. 
And many of them that sleep in the dust 
of the earth shall awake, some to ever- 
lasting life, and some to shame and ever- 
lasting contempt. And they that be wise 
shall shine as the firmament; and they 
that turn many to righteousness, as the 
stars for ever and ever" (Dan. 12:1-3). 

Where are our children — infants? 

Let us read Revelation, chapter 14: 
1 l And I heard a voice from heaven, as the 
voice of many waters, and as the voice of 
a great thunder : and I heard the voice of 
harpers harping with their harps: and 
they sung as it were a new song before 
the throne, and before the four beasts, 

179 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

and the elders: and no man could learn 
that song but the hundred and forty and 
four thousand, which were redeemed from 
the earth. These are they which were not 
denied with women; for they are virgins. 
These are they which follow the Lamb 
whithersoever he goeth. These were re- 
deemed from among men, being the first- 
fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And 
in their mouth was found no guile: for 
they are without fault before the throne 
of God" (14:2-5). 

Who are these who have the Father's 
name written upon their foreheads; who 
are without fault, without guile; and who 
are the firstfruits of redemption; and 
who sing a song that no man can sing; 
and who follow the Lamb whithersoever 
Jie goeth? They can not be men and 
women, for they are with fault, and guile 
is in, or has been in, their mouths. They 
sing a song that no man can sing. Who 
are they? We believe that they are those 
who die in infancy — before they have 
committed sin. They are redeemed 
without any volition of their own and are 
the firstfruits of redemption: man is re- 

180 



WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

deemed by his own volition when he ac- 
cepts the gospel plan of salvation. These, 
of the one hundred and forty and four 
thousand — a definite number for an in- 
definite number — follow the Lamb whith- 
ersoever he goeth. 

When shall we go to our final place 
of reward! When Christ gets the place 
ready for us. When he gets this place 
ready he will come for us. Hear his 
sweet promise: "Let not your heart be 
troubled; ye believe in God, believe also 
in me. In my Father's house are many 
mansions : if it were not so, I would have 
told you. I go to prepare a place for 
you. And if I go and prepare a place 
for you, I will come again, and receive 
you unto myself; that where I am, there 
ye may be also" (John 14:1-3). He is 
now preparing this place for his own. 
He will build the mansion, but we must 
furnish the material. It is said that a 
wealthy society woman dreamed that she 
had died and had gone to heaven. She 
saw one of the most magnificent man- 
sions her eyes had ever gazed upon. She 
asked the apostle Peter to tell her who 

181 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

occupied that house. Peter told her that 
Sister A would live in it. She exclaimed: 
"This is the name of my servant-girl. ' ' 
Peter said: "She sent up the material 
which represented her daily life, and the 
Master constructed the building out of 
this material. ,, "Where shall I live?" 
she asked. Peter pointed to a cabin. The 
woman said: "No; I shall not live in such 
a place. I lived in a beautiful mansion 
down in yonder world. I shall not live 
in a place of this sort." Peter replied: 
"We did the best we could for you with 
the material you furnished.' ' She awoke 
with the prayer: "Lord, send me back 
and give me another chance to furnish 
better material for my home." 

Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 15:20, 21: 
"Now is Christ risen from the dead, 
and become the firstfruits of them that 
slept." Now, if Christ is the firstfruits, 
no one ever came from the dead to die 
no more before his resurrection. We 
learn that some were raised by miracu- 
lous power, but they died again. 

But we are told that when Christ 
came from among the dead he abolished 

182 



WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

the intermediate state and took all of 
the redeemed to heaven with him. If 
that be true, it seems that David would 
have been among that number; but we 
hear Peter say, after the resurrection 
and the ascension: "Men and brethren, 
let me freely speak unto you of the patri- 
arch David, that he is both dead and 
buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto 
this day . . . For David is not ascended 
into heaven" (Acts 2:29, 34). 

The New Testament speaks of a cer- 
tain day when we shall be judged and 
come into the possession of our reward. 
"And this is the will of him that sent 
me, that every one which seeth the Son, 
and believeth on him, may have ever- 
lasting life: and I will raise him up at 
the last day" (John 6:40). See the 
logical statement made by Paul: "But 
every man in his own order: Christ the 
firstfruits; afterward they that are 
Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the 
end, when he shall have delivered up the 
kingdom to God, even the Father; when 
he shall have put down all rule and all 
authority and power. For he must reign 

183 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

till he hath put all enemies under his 
feet" (1 Cor. 15:22-28). 

"For I am now ready to be offered, 
and the time of my departure is at hand. 
I have fought a good fight. I have fin- 
ished my course. I have kept the faith 
[past] : henceforth there is laid up for 
me a crown of righteousness [present], 
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall 
give me at that day [future] ; and not to 
me only, but unto all them also that love 
his appearing" (2 Tim. 4:6-8). 

"Behold, I show you a mystery; we 
shall not all sleep, but we shall be 
changed, in a moment, in the twinkling 
of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the 
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall 
be raised incorruptible, and we shall 
be changed. For this corruptible must 
put on incorruption, and this mortal 
must put on immortality" (1 Cor. 15: 
51-54). 

Those who are dead shall be raised, 
and those who are here at Christ's com- 
ing shall not die, but be changed. Jesus 
said at the grave of Lazarus: "I am the 
resurrection, and the life: he that be- 

184 



WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet 
shall he live: and whosoever liveth and 
believeth in me shall never die" (John 
11:25, 26). Those who remain at his 
coming must be changed, and in the 
change become immortal. "But I would 
not have you ignorant, brethren, con- 
cerning them which are asleep, that ye 
sorrow not, even as others which have 
no hope. For if we believe that Jesus 
died and rose again, even so them also 
which sleep* in Jesus will God bring 
with him. For this we say unto you by 
the word of the Lord, that we which are 
alive and remain unto the coming of the 
Lord shall not prevent [go before] them 
which are asleep.* For the Lord him- 
self shall descend from heaven with a 
shout, with the voice of the archangel, 
and with the trump of God: and the 
dead in Christ shall rise first [that is, 
before the living shall be caught up]. 
Then we which are alive and remain 
shall be caught up together with them 
in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the 



* Remember that sleep refers to the body. 
185 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

air: and so shall we ever be with the 
Lord" (1 Thess. 4:13-17). 

At this time we shall get our reward. 
"For we must all appear before the 
judgment seat of Christ; that every one 
may receive the things done in his body, 
according to that he hath done, whether 
it be good or bad" (2 Cor. 5: 10). "And 
I saw the dead, small and great, stand 
before God; and the books were opened: 
and another book was opened, which is 
the book of life; and the dead were 
judged out of those things which were 
written in the books according to their 
works" (Rev. 20:12-15). (See Matt. 25 
and Eev. 22:10-12.) 

"And I saw a new heaven and a new 
earth: for the first heaven and the first 
earth were passed away; and there was 
no more sea. And I John saw the holy 
city, new Jerusalem, coming down from 
God out of heaven,* prepared as a bride 
adorned for her husband. And I heard 
a great voice out of heaven saying, Be- 



* Heaven here is the paradise or the state of the 
saved in the unseen world. The new Jerusalem is the 
church of Christ — the redeemed. 
186 



WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

hold, the tabernacle of God is with men, 
and he shall dwell with them, and they 
shall be his people, and God himself 
shall be with them, and shall be their 
God. And God shall wipe away all tears 
from their eyes; and there shall be no 
more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, 
neither shall there be any more pain: for 
the former things are passed away. And 
he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, 
I make all things new. And he said 
unto me, Write: for these words are true 
and faithful" (Rev. 21:1-5). 

In this world of sorrow we shall shed 
tears of grief. Do you not remember 
when you were a little tot, how you 
would go to your mother with your 
troubles, with tears streaming down your 
cheeks, and she would tenderly put her 
arms around you, take you upon her lap 
and kiss away the tears? Soon you 
would forget all about your troubles and 
your heart would be full of joy. Some 
day, blessed be his name, our Lord will 
kiss away the tears, and we will forget all 
of our trials and cares and shall rejoice 
in his presence. 

187 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

Death Becomes a Blessing. — This 
world is not our home. Man will become 
weary and tired of this earthly home. 
He has in him something that will after 
awhile long for eternity. I remember 
meeting an aged woman who sat and 
patiently waited to be removed. She 
complained of being lonesome. Her 
friends and associates had all gone, 
things had changed and she had out- 
grown her environments. 

The twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes 
gives a graphic description of old age. 
Read it. 

THERE ISN'T ANY ONE FOR ME TO PLAT 
WITH ANY MORE. 

The glow is fading from the western sky, 
And, one by one, my comrades, as of yore, 

Have given up their play and said good-by; 

There isn 't any one for me to play with any more. 

Don't ery, dear heart! for I am worn and old; 

No longer have I largeness in my store; 
E'en love's best gifts to me I could not hold; 

There isn't any one for me to play with any more. 

I miss the tender handclasp of old friends, 

The kisses of loved ones gone before; 
'Tis lonely, when the heart first comprehends 
There isn't any one for me to play with any more. 
188 



WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

I need these loving hearts, so fond and leal; 

I want tihem in my arms, as heretofore; 
When they are readhed, I shall no longer feel 

There isn 't any one for me to play with any more. 
— James Terry White. 

Some one may desire to know what 
we mean by the "unseen world.' ' It is 
all about us. If we could only pull aside 
the thin veil, we should be able to see 
the unnumbered host. We believe that 
they are with us, and near us, and are 
looking down upon us in our walks of 
life. Read Hebrews, eleventh chapter, 
and you will have mentioned some of the 
number that compose the "great cloud 
of witnesses' ' as mentioned in the twelfth 
chapter. 

The Lord help us to be true and faith- 
ful, as we think of the beautiful land of 
the dead. 

By the hut of the peasant, where poverty weeps, 

And nigh to the towers of the king, 
Close, close by the cradle where infancy sleeps 

And joy loves to linger and sing; 

Lies a garden of light filled with heaven's perfume, 

Where never a teardrop is shed, 
And the rose and the lily are ever in bloom — 

"Itis the beautiful land of the dead. 
189 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

Each moment of life a messenger comes 

And beckons man over the way; 
Through the heart-sobs of women and the rattle of drums 

The army of mortals obey. 

Few lips that have kissed not a motionless brow; 

A face from eadh fireside has fled, 
And we know that our loved ones are watching us new 

In the beautiful land of the dead. 

Not a charm that we knew ere the boundary was crossed, 

As we stood in the valley alone; 
Not a trait that we prize in our darlings is lost — 

They are fairer and lovelier grown. 

As the lily bursts forth when the shadows of night 

Into bondage of daybreak are led, 
So they bask in the glow by the pillar of ligttrt 

In the beautiful land of the dead. 

Oh! the dead, our dead I Our beautiful deadl 
They are close to the heart of eternity wed. 

When the last deed is done and the last word is said, 
We shall meet in the beautiful land of the dead. 

— Unknown. 

May God comfort you in this dark 
hour; at a time when the heartstrings 
are breaking; when the clouds are dark 
and heavy, and he is anxious to help you 
to see the light, which after awhile shall 
come through the rift in the clouds: 
therefore he sends this token of love: 
"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he 

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WHERE ARE OUR DEAD? 

shall sustain thee" (Ps. 55:22). Hear 
him say to you: 

"Child of my love, lean hard, 
And let me feel the pressure of thy care. 
I know thy burden, child, I shaped it; 
Poised it in mine own hand; made no proportion 
In its weight to tbdne unaided strength: 
For even as I laid it on, I said, 
I snail be near, and while he leans on me 
This burden shall be mine, not his; 
So shall I keep my child within the circling arms 
Of my own love. Here lay it down, nor fear 
To impose it on a shoulder which upholds 
The government of worlds. Yet closer come; 
Thou art not near enough; I would embrace thy care 
So I might feel my child reposing on my breast. 
Thou lovest me? I knew it. Doubt not, then: 
But, loving me, lean herd.'* 



191 



XIV 

HEAVENLY RECOGNITION 

Text. — "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of 
rejoicing? Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at 
his coming? For ye are our glory and our joy. " — 
1 Thess. 1 : 19, 20. 

T^HEEE are times when all of us are 
* interested in this question. Many 
times the minister goes into the homes of 
the members of his charge, and they do 
not care to talk about things that are 
spiritual and things that are eternal. 
The death angel has visited your home 
and taken one of your loved ones. When 
the minister comes again you will get 
the family album and turn to a picture 
that is more precious now than gold, and 
you will take it into your hand and press 
it to your lips, and then talk tenderly of 
the absent one, and you will be interested 
in all of the Scripture that speaks of the 
state of the dead. Then you will ask a 

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HEAVENLY RECOGNITION 

question — one that is constantly coming 
up for settlement: "Does the Bible tell 
us that we shall know our loved ones in 
heaven ? ' ' 

A gentleman lived in a beautiful man- 
sion on the banks of a great river, and 
there was on the other side another 
beautiful mansion in which lived one who 
was to him a stranger. He says : * * I often 
looked over the river and admired the 
mansion, but I was little interested in the 
people who lived there. One day a man 
came from that home to my home. He 
came many times, and one day when he 
went back he took with him my only 
daughter. Now I love to think of that 
home, and I am deeply interested, be- 
cause my home is divided and a part of 
the family lives on that side of the river, 
and I want to go over and visit." This 
is like death. Some of our loved ones 
have moved into another world, and un- 
til they went we thought but little of that 
country. The home is now divided, and 
we feel that it will not be long until all of 
us shall have moved out and across the 
river, where we shall inhabit a new home 

193 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

and where we shall be reunited with those 
who are dear to us. 

But some one is ready to ask: "If 
we are to know our loved ones, how can 
we be happy if all of them are not with 
us in heaven f" God is our Father, and 
he loves us far more than it is possible 
for us to love our children. Jesus is 
our Elder Brother, and he loves us, too, 
more than it is possible for us to love 
our children. Then I ask, If God and 
Christ shall be happy when all of the 
children and brothers are not present, 
shall we, too, not be happy? We can 
not understand and we can not explain 
it, but we must believe that God and 
Christ shall know all who have been cre- 
ated in the image of the Father; and 
more, all who have been created in the 
image of God shall know God and Christ 
Jesus, God's Son. Now, does it not 
logically follow that if we shall recog- 
nize our Father and our Elder Brother, 
we shall also recognize other members 
of the family? 

Man possesses reason. He is com- 
posed of mind, and mind is composed of 

194 



HEAVENLY RECOGNITION 

intellect, sensibility and will. Intellect is 
composed of being, space, time, person- 
ality, number and resemblance. Man can 
never forget ; he may not be able to recol- 
lect. When the impression has been 
stamped npon the soul, it is there for 
all time. When Abraham spake to the 
man in the unseen world who was being 
tormented, he said: "Son, remember." 
Every act of man's life touches a chord 
that will vibrate in eternity. Man is 
hanging up pictures around the cham- 
ber of his heart at which he shall be 
forced to gaze in eternity. This man in 
Hades knew Abraham, and he recognized 
Lazarus as being the man who stopped 
at his home in this world and begged for 
the crumbs that fell from his table. He 
remembered that he received good things 
in the world from whence he had come 
and that Lazarus received evil things, 
and that now things had changed and 
that he was getting the evil things while 
Lazarus was getting the good things. I 
care not to speculate about hell, but I 
want to say that there is one thing of 
which I am certain, and that is that mem- 

195 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

ory is a worm that shall never die. The 
fact that man must live over his life 
again shall make him miserable, if it 
has not been a life lived in Jesus Christ. 

Paul before the throne is the same 
Paul who preached before Felix. He is 
Paul minus his imperfections. The 
twelve apostles were promised the honor 
of sitting upon the twelve thrones and 
with the privilege of judging the twelve 
tribes of Israel. 

When Peter, James, John and Christ 
were on the mount, some strange things 
happened. Jesus was transfigured and 
glorified, but he was yet known by these 
apostles. Moses stepped out from the 
unseen world, having been dead fifteen 
hundred years, and Elijah also appeared 
upon the stage of action. Can you tell 
me how Peter came to know these two 
distinguished spirits? "Who gave him an 
introduction? He knew Moses as being 
different from Elijah, and Elijah and 
Moses as being different from Jesus. He 
knew Moses as Moses and Elijah as Eli- 
jah. Now, if Peter, here on earth and 
in his flesh, could recognize these souls of 

196 



HEAVENLY RECOGNITION 

the unseen world, do you think he will 
be unable to recognize them when he is 
clothed upon with immortality and when 
he stands in their presence in the great 
eternity? 

Let us look at the statement found in 
the Eevelation (6:9-11): "I saw under- 
neath the altar the souls of them that 
had been slain for the word of God, and 
for the testimony which they held: and 
they cried with a great voice, saying, 
How long, O Master, the holy and true, 
dost thou not judge and avenge our blood 
on them that dwell on the earth? And 
there was given to each one of them a 
white robe; and it was said unto them, 
that they should rest yet for a little time, 
until their fellow-servants also and their 
brethren, who should be killed even as 
they were, should have fulfilled their 
course." John saw the beings under- 
neath the altar. They remembered their 
persecution and how they had suffered 
for the gospel. They remembered that 
it occurred on this earth, and they re- 
membered that those who were respon- 
sible for their suffering were yet living 

197 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

on the earth. They were to expect the 
same kind of persecution to come to their 
brethren who were then living on the 
earth, and that they, too, were to come 
to be with them. 

When we come into the other world 
we shall, be with Christ and we shall wor- 
ship him. "The four and twenty elders 
shall fall down before him that sitteth 
on the throne, and shall worship him 
that liveth for ever and ever, and shall 
cast their crowns before the throne, say- 
ing, Worthy art thou, our Lord and our 
God, to receive the glory and the honor 
and the power: for thou didst create all 
things, and because of thy will they were 
and are created' ' (Rev. 4:10, 11). 

To worship Christ we must know him. 
We must know him as different from all 
others. If we shall know him, is there 
any sufficient reason why we shall not 
know the four and twenty elders and all 
of the host of the redeemed? 

Our text tells us that these converts 
in this church at Thessalonica are Paul's 
joy and crown. How could they be his 
if he is not to know them as his converts? 

198 



HEAVENLY RECOGNITION 

How can he present them unto the Father 
as his hope if he is not to claim them? 

Man shall know himself in that world. 
He shall know himself as different from 
others. In the final judgment he will 
tell the Lord about the work accomplished 
in the name of Jesus Christ (Matt. 7: 
21-24). Study the twenty-fifth chapter 
of Matthew and you will find that the 
final test will be: "I was hungry, and ye 
fed me; naked, and ye clothed me." When 
we ask when this was done, we are to 
be told that it was when we did it unto 
his disciples. 

"And I John am he that heard and 
saw these things. And when I heard and 
saw, I fell down to worship before the 
feet of the angel that showed me these 
things." He knew the angel as not being 
the Lord of glory. "And he saith unto 
me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow- 
servant with thee and with thy brethren 
the prophets, and with them that keep 
the words of this book. Worship God." 

The prophets in the unseen world 
were the prophets on earth. Man lives 
out of the body. When death comes, the 

199 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

door is opened and the man flies away. 
All intelligence continues to live. The 
separation from the body does not in 
any way prevent the man from thinking 
and remembering. 

"A solemn m/urmur in the soul 
Tells of a world to be, 
As travelers hear the billows roll 
Before they reach, the sea." 

The old patriarchs, we are told, died, 
and were buried and were gathered unto 
their people. Some buried in a strange 
land were themselves gathered unto their 
own people in the unseen world. 

God is not the God of the dead, but 
of the living. He is the God of Abra- 
ham and of Isaac and of Jacob. Abra- 
ham, Isaac and Jacob are themselves in 
the unseen world. They will be them- 
selves in heaven. Will it not be glorious 
to sit down with these great souls and 
converse with them on questions which 
have not yet been made plain? When 
we sit in the presence of Paul we may 
be able to hear him explain the things 
he heard when he was left for dead at 
Lystra — the day he climbed his mount 
200 



HEAVENLY RECOGNITION 

of transfiguration. Then we may learn 
what he meant by the thorn in the flesh. 
Who knows but that we shall have won- 
derful experience-meetings over there? 
If we sit down in the presence of Abra- 
ham and of Isaac and of Jacob, do you 
not think we shall know them? 

"They are perfectly blessed — the redeemed and the 
free — 
Who are resting in joy by the smooth, glassy sea; 
They breathed here on earth all their sorrowful sighs, 
And Jesus has kissed all the tears from their eyes. 

"They are happy at home! They have learnt the new 
song, 
And warble it sweetly amid the glad throng; 
No faltering voices, no discords, are there; 
The melodious praises swell high through the air. 

"There falls not on them the deep silence of night; 
They never grow weary — ne'er fadeth the light; 
Throughout the long day new hosannahs they raise, 
And express their glad thoughts in exuberant praise. 

"E'en thus would we praise thee, dear Saviour divine; 
We, too, would be with thee — loved children of thine; 
Oh, teach us, that we may sing perfectly there 
When we, too, are called to that city so fair. ,, 

We sorrow not as others which have 
no hope, for we believe that Jesus died 
and rose again, and that he will bring 
with him all who sleep in him, and that 

201 



SERMONS FOR THE PEOPLE 

together we shall be caught up in the 
air to ever be with the Lord. 

"Look above thee! Never eye 
Saw such pleasures as await thee; 
Thought ne'er reached such scenes of joy 
As are there prepared to meet thee; 
Light undying, seraphs ' lyres, 
Angel welcomes, cherub choirs, 
Smiling through heaven's doors to greet thee. ,, 

Can it be possible no words shall welcome 

Our coming feet? 
How will it look, that face we have cherished, 

When next we meet? 
Will it be changed, so glorified and saintly, 

That we shall know it not? 
Will there be nothing that will say, I love thee, 

And I have not forgot? 

O faithless heart, the same loved face transfigured 

Shall meet thee there, 
Less sad, less wistful in immortal beauty, 

Divinely fair. 
The mortal veil, washed pure with many weepings, 

Is rent away, 
And the great soul that sat within its prison 

Hath found the day. 

In the clear morning of that other country, 

In Paradise, 
With the same sweet face that we have loved and cher- 
ished, 

It shall arise; 
Let us be patient, we who mourn with weeping; 

Some vanished face 

202 



HEAVENLY RECOGNITION 

The Lord lias taken but to add a richer 
And a diviner grace. 

And we shall find once more, 

Beyond earth's skies, 
In the fair city of the "sure foundations, ' ' 

Those heavenly eyes, 
With the same welcome shining through their sweetness, 

That met us here; 
Eyes, from whose beauty God has banished weeping 

And wiped away the tear. 

— Unknown. 



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